Robotech: Macross
by OhioGuy
Summary: In 2019, an alien spaceship crashlanded on Macross Island, ending WW3. 10 years later, an alien armada attacks Earth to reclaim their lost vessel and conquer humanity as slaves. The SDF-1 Macross escapes and is sent to the outer edge of the solar system. They now embark on a five year journey to earth, first they must survive the harsh frontier of space. Co-written by Drew Micheals
1. Chapter 1

Robotech: Macross

**After watching Robotech and Macross, which I have to admit** **are very well-written shows. I always thought what would happen if the show was given a reboot in the vein of "Battlestar Galactica". There will probably be major changes and some plot points would remain the same. This is the first anime story I've ever written, I was never really a fan until now.**

**Main Idea:**

**Setting: In 2019, the world was engulfed in the flames of war. The United Nations and Anti-United Nation governments fought over the rights of singular sovereignty, the right to govern a nation without the authority of an International Government. **

**The war was fought on every inhabitable continent. In the chaos, Cities were destroyed, lives were lost, and many were left homeless. By June of the same year, the conflict was in its fifth year; it seemed there was no end in sight, then a miracle happened.**

**When people think of miracles, they think of some divine intervention that has given aid to the weary and mend some catastrophe. But there was no religious advent, no earth shattering event brought upon by God. It was something far from that, something that nobody expected to happen at all.**

**On June 21****st****, 2019, a fleet of Anti-UN Ships attacked the naval base at Macross Island, A strategic refueling and research facility for the UN. For several hours, the violent struggle between the Anti-UN fleet and the UN forces stationed there wrought severe damages and losses on both sides. Then an ear-piercing sound was heard from the heavens, a colossal fireball descended toward the small Island. Fortunately, it landed miles away from the base. To the amazement of the gathered militaries there, the vast object was not a meteor…it was a spaceship.**

**A treaty was signed and for once global peace had been achieved. The new United Nations government soon gathered the worlds foremost experts in Biology, Archaeology and engineering to study the alien craft, which was soon dubbed the Super Dimensional Fortress 1. Upon investigation, they found even more surprises.**

**Just as amazing the discovery of life beyond earth was; they discovered the beings that piloted the ship. They all measured at 40 ft in height and piloted mechanical suits that still dwarfed us. In fear of an Alien Invasion, the government began studying the equipment onboard the vessel in an attempt to reverse-engineer the alien technology.**

**The year is now 2029.**

**Main Characters:**

**Humans:**

**Ensign Richard "Vermilion" Hunter**

**Major Roy "Skull" Fokker **

**1****st****. Lieutenant Lisa Hayes**

**Lynn Minmei**

**Henry J. Gloval**

**Ensign Max "Silver" Sterling**

**Ensign Ben "Titan" Dixon**

**Claudia Grant**

**Frederick "Pops" Hunter**

**Emil Lang**

**Amanda Gloval (Original Character)**

**Zentraedi:**

**Breetai Krid**

**Exedore Fol **

**Miriya Parina**

**Supreme Leader Dolza Dez IV**

**Khyron Krav**

**Azonia Tur **

**Supporting Characters:**

**Humans:**

**Lieutenant Kimberly Young**

**Lieutenant Vanessa Leeds**

**Lieutenant Samantha Porter**

**Major. Jack "Wolf" Archer**

**Major. Isabelle "Red" Randal**

**Vince Grant**

**Jean Ellison-Grant**

**Ensign Shin "Vox" Kudo (Character adapted from Macross Zero)**

**Ensign Edgar "Joker" LaSalle (Character adapted from Macross Zero)**

**Linn Jason**

**Private Arturo Estevez (Original Character)**

**Private James McMillan (Original Character) **

**Private Alexei Romanov (Original Character)**

**Updated Mecha:**

**VF-01 Valkyrie: Instead of being modeled after the Tomcat, I envision it to a twin-engine fighter with a body frame based on the soon to be deployed F-35 Lightning II.**

**SVF-04 Tomahawk: A stealth Veritech fighter modeled after a futuristic B-2 bomber.**

**VT-13 Hoplite: A mecha that that transforms from a tank into a bipedal war machine.**

**SDF-1 Macross: Larger and More sleeker than the original series version, it can house a city whose size would be comparable to London or Tokyo.**

**Won't reveal anything else about the plot, because that would be spoiling on my part; Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at what to expect. **

**(Also, please read my Hobbit/ Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover when it is published) Happy New Year!**


	2. Chapter 2

Robotech: Macross 2

**Further Notes before the start of story:**

**Ensign Richard "Vermilion" Hunter: **Twenty years old at the start of story, Joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 in an act of teenage rebellion against his father. Assigned to the U.N. SPACY for an exemplary display of flight skills, Callsign derived from the fact his favorite color is "Vermilion Red". He is assigned to Skull Squadron.

**Major Roy "Skull" Fokker: **Thirty-One years old at the start of story, Joined the U.S. Air Force during the last few years of the war. Present at the Battle for Macross Island when the spaceship crashed. One of the first pilots assigned to the U.N. SPACY, earned his nickname from his Thick-headed personality. He is the commander of Skull Squadron.

**1****st****. Lieutenant Lisa Hayes: **Twenty-Three years old at the start of story, Joined the U.S. Navy so she could join her Fiancée, Karl Rieber (Who was tragically killed in the Battle of Denver). She has since become despondent and cold towards anybody who tries to enter into a relationship.

**Lynn Minmei: **Nineteen years old at the start of story, a college student who was sent to Macross Island as part of a Foreign Study program. She has a dream of becoming a famous entertainer, but right now focuses on finishing college and caring for her orphaned cousin Jason.

**Henry J. Gloval: **Fifty-One years old at the start of story. He was a Russian Naval Commander during the war, and was the commander of the U.N. Forces stationed at Macross Island during the battle. He is now in command of the SDF-1 Macross. His command causes him a lot of stress but not as much as his wayward daughter, Amanda.

**Ensign Max "Silver" Sterling: **Twenty-One years old at the start of story, was originally part of the SDF-1 Construction crew before volunteering for the U.N. SPACY to pay for his college tuition. His Callsign comes from his last name. He is assigned to Skull Squadron.

**Ensign Ben "Titan" Dixon: **Twenty-three years old at the start of the story, He is Ben's adopted brother and was the linebacker for the Macross University Mountains. He joined the U.N. SPACY after college to watch over his younger brother. His Callsign comes from his nickname from his football days. He is assigned to Skull Squadron as a reserve pilot.

**Claudia Grant: **Twenty-nine years old at the start of story, one of Lisa's co-workers and few friends, Claudia acts sort of like the big sister to Lisa. She is constantly pushing her boyfriend Roy to propose to her. She shares an apartment with her brother and sister in law.

**Frederick "Pops" Hunter: **Fifty years old at the start of story, the father of Rick and Mentor of Roy Fokker and an Iraqi War Veteran. His relationship with his son and adopted son is strained, so he moves to Macross Island in order to mend it. Then the Zentraedi attacked, causing him to join the U.N. SPACY as a commissioned Officer. He eventually becomes the Executive Officer of the Macross after his predecessors Death.

**Emil Lang: **Forty years old at start of Story, The head scientist for the research team of the SDI-1. He is somewhat absent-minded and eccentric, but suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, after witnessing the death of his wife Janice during the war. He serves as the voice of wisdom for the other characters when they ask for advice.

**Amanda Gloval: **Twenty- Five years old at start of story, she is the only child of Commander Gloval. Her relationship with her Father is virtually non-existent, as she blames him for her Mothers' Death. She runs a successful coffee shop in Macross City.

**Zentraedi: **They are different than their 80's counterparts, as they are not clones. Instead each Zentraedi is created through Bioengineering, (Basically they're all test tube babies, and the process involves a male Zentraedi having his DNA examined, then a test is used to find a proper female counterpart. When the right female DNA is found, they place both strands of DNA in a Growth Chamber until a baby is made). They are still segregated along gender lines, as they have no concept of families, certain emotions, or even culture. They live only to prove the superiority of their race by enslaving other alien species.

**Breetai Krid: **About Sixty years old, the Admiral in command of the Second Zentraedi Imperial Fleet. He strives only to prove he is no failure to Dolza, as he was placed in command because of a command snafu that also cost him his right eye. Despite his high position, His subordinates suspect that he has a secret.

**Exedore Fol: **At the age of Thirty-Eight, Exedore is the youngest Zentraedi to have ever been promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral. He serves as Breetai's loyal advisor and second in command. He also serves as the archivist of the fleet, for he takes pleasure in cataloguing conquered aliens and their cultures.

**Miriya Parina: **Twenty-Two years old at the start of story, Miriya is the dreaded Red Phantom of the Zentraedi Imperial Space Fleet, Having killed over 110 enemies. She is proud and arrogant, but yearns for more. She also has some mysterious connection to Breetai.

**Supreme Leader Dolza Dez IV: **The 78th ruler in Dez Line, Dolza rules the Zentraedi with an iron fist. In his 125 year reign, he has conquered thousandths of worlds and enslaved billions of life forms. His next target is Earth and the Human race.

**Khyron Krav: **The leader of Dolza's Imperial Guardians, Khyron has absolute loyalty to his race. He is Twenty-Eight years old.

**Azonia Tur: **The Twenty-Seven year old advisor and Lover of Khyron. They keep their relationship a secret so as to escape the punishment of death, and also plan to dispose of Dolza and become the new rulers of the Zentraedi.

**Supporting Characters:**

**Humans:**

**Lieutenant Kimberly Young: **At twenty years old, She is the second oldest of the bridge operators. She was a member of the Canadian Air Force before her Transfer to the SDF-1 Macross. She is also known as Kim. She is currently dating Edgar LaSalle.

**Lieutenant Vanessa Leeds: **At Twenty-Three years old, she is the oldest of the bridge operators. She is very controlling of her boyfriend Ben Dixon and is oblivious to fact that Sammie has a crush on him.

**Lieutenant Samantha Porter: **At age twenty**, **she is the youngest of the bridge operators. She is very naïve and has a huge crush on Ben Dixon.

**Major. Jack "Wolf" Archer: **Twenty-Nine years old at the start of the story, Jack is commander of Wolf Squadron and an old friend of Roy's from the war. Orphaned at a young age during the onset of the war, He joined the air force to escape the violence on the ground. His Callsign comes from his "Lone Wolf" attitude towards life.

**Major. Isabelle "Red" Randal: **Twenty-Eight years at the start of the story, Izzy is a member of Wolf Squadron, serving as second in command. She is often being mentored by Roy, who sees her as a younger sister. She is coping with her feelings for her friend Jack. Her Callsign comes from her distinct Red hair. She often dreams of leading her own squadron someday.

**Vince Grant: **The twin Brother of Claudia Grant, Vince is a member of Dr. Lang's research team and helped develop the Valkyrie Fighter. He is very dedicated to his work and is twice as dedicated to his Wife, Jean.

**Jean Ellison-Grant: **The Chief Medical Officer of The Macross, Jean serves as a mother figure for all her patients. She enjoys spending time with her Sister in Law, Lisa, and the Bridge Crew in Her Downtime. She is currently pregnant with her first child.

**Ensign Shin "Vox" Kudo: **At Eighteen years old, Shin is the youngest member of Skull Squadron. He has a lot to learn about flying and life, and is constantly being pushed by his friends to enjoy life more and not be so cold towards everyone he meets. He suffers from horrible memories of the war, as he saw his whole family executed before his very eyes. His Callsign is ironic joke based on his shy and quiet personality.

**Ensign Edgar "Joker" LaSalle: **Serving as the Radar Intercept Officer for Skull Squadron, Edgar is the complete opposite of his best friend Shin. He is twenty years old and considers himself a ladies man. He is also the first cousin of Vince and Claudia Grant. His Callsign comes from his tendency to pull pranks on the other members of his squadron. Roy tolerates his antics only because he's related to his girlfriend.

**Linn Jason: **The twelve year old orphan cousin of Minmei**, **Jason is cold, stubborn, and very rebellious. He resents the fact he had to move to Macross Island, but he soon comes to accept as his home. He also idolizes the Valkyrie Pilots, who often visit the coffee shop that his cousin works at. His Dream is to become a pilot himself. Because of the lack of a male role model in his life, "Pops" Hunter becomes a father figure to the boy.

**Private Arturo Estevez: **At Eighteen, Arturo joined the newly formed United Marine Corps to travel the world. He soon found himself assigned to Macross as part of the Macross Security and Defense Force.

**Private James McMillan: **When he was seventeen, James dreamt of joining the British Royal Air Force, but was denied admittance due to his eye problems. He now serves as a member of Jean Grant's medical team.

**Private Alexei Romanov: **A newly arrived recruit from Siberia, Alexei left his home to join the U.N. SPACY as a pilot of a Hoplite Tank.


	3. First Contact (Part 1)

Robotech

Chapter One: First Contact (Part 1)

**June 21****st****, 2029**

**12:00 EDT**

**Macross Island International Airport**

Frederick Hunter stood waiting for his luggage, he was nervous and excited. It will be the first time he has seen his son in two years. He still remembers the day Rick left; it was the day where he knew he had no control over what his sons' destiny would be. He hasn't even seen Roy in over thirteen years, but the circumstances were different.

In the middle of his thoughts, his luggage finally arrived and he took the cases. He breathed heavily and exhaled, ready to see Macross Island. As he leaves the airport, he hails a taxi. Within seconds, a bright yellow taxi appears and picks him up.

"Where are you heading?" The driver inquires.

"The SDF-1 and step on it!" Hunter tells the driver as he hands him the money.

The driver takes the cash and begins the trek to the colossal spaceship.

_Here I come, Son. _Pops thought as the taxi drove through traffic.

**June 21****st****, 2029**

**12:00 EDT**

**Macross City, White Dragon Coffee Hut**

The streets were alive with movement. People were walking in and out of stores. Some were shopping for food, few were shopping because they wanted to, and the rest were shopping for something to wear for the Launch of the world's first Interstellar Ship, the SDF-1 Macross. Inside the White Dragon Internet Café, Lynn Minmei was busy taking orders from military personnel and civilians alike. While taking an order from a blonde-haired officer and his girlfriend, she heard her Boss talking with someone on the phone.

As she picks up the coffee, she carefully eavesdrops on the conversation.

"No, Dad. I'm not coming and I don't care if you're the damn commander! What about me, I have my business and it's my responsibility! Wait, the Mayor wants me to cater the event? But, I only serve Coffee and a few sweets! He knows that? Well, in that case here's my answer…I'll do it." Amanda Gloval said as she hung up the phone.

She soon turns to her only employee and friend and excitedly says.

"Minmei, Close the shop and pack all the coffee and food you can get…we just got a job!"

The young Chinese college student leaps with joy at the news and quickly dispatches every customer in the café. After the shop was closed, they packed a few food items and loaded them onto the van. She then turns to her friend and asked.

"Amanda? I was wondering, but do you think I can pick up Jason on the way to the SDF-1?"

The Russian-American girl thought it over for a second and finally gave the bubbly girl her response.

"Yes, you can pick Jason on the way to the ship, but he's going to work!"

Upon closing the back of the van, the two girls got into their respective seats. Amanda places her key in the ignition and soon drives off. She then turns the radio on. But all she gets is static. She tries several different stations before giving up.

"Minmei, would you like to sing? Just to pass the time until we get to the base?" She asks her sole friend and employee.

Minmei giggled with joy and excitement, and then she began singing one of her favorite songs. Amanda listened to her melodious voice as she drove towards Jason's school before heading to the base.

_Here I come, dad…whether you like it or not. _She thought to herself.

**June 21****st****, 2029**

**12:00 EDT**

**SDF-1 Macross **

Linn Jason had decided to take an early leave from school. The twelve-year old Chinese boy thought that he should be at the Base for the Launch. The whole event was open to the public, but 30 lucky people can buy tickets just to get a tour of the ship and the vehicles located on the base. Luckily he bribed a guard with a pizza for a ticket, and now he was part of the tour group.

_I can't believe this is happening!_ He thought to himself.

He noticed the tour group was quite diverse as he could note by the various individuals he saw. There was the Mayor, a few celebrities, scientists, and reporters. He was the odd one out. He stood there with twenty-nine other people waiting for their tour guides. After a few minutes, two figures approach the group. One was a young blonde-haired American man; the other was a beautiful brunette woman. They both stopped and examined the group.

The woman was the first to speak. "Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentleman. I am 1st. Lieutenant Lisa Hayes and I am honored to serve as your tour guide on the SDF-1. You have all been given a special privilege as you'll all be on the bridge when we launch. With me is Major Roy Fokker, our top test pilot and commander of the famous Skull Squadron."

The Blonde haired man stepped forward and laid out the ground rules.

"Unlike the Lieutenant, I'm gonna be less formal when speaking. On this tour, there are three rules you will obey. One: There will be no touching any of the Equipment! Two: You may ask questions, but only if they relate to the subject! Three and Most Importantly: Stay with the group! If you don't follow these rules, my ass will be on the line…which means your asses will be on the line! So don't do anything stupid, especially you Half-pint!" He ended his speech by pointing at the twelve year old boy.

The young Chinese-American boy was not fazed, however. He quickly snapped back at the pilot.

"Listen here, I am not a half-pint! I'm just short for my age. So get your facts straight before you call someone a name; you got that, numbskull!"

Fokker stood flabbergasted; he would normally get that kind of talk from Claudia when he made a mistake, but a twelve year old boy?

"Why you little…" Roy snarled at the boy before being interrupted by the lieutenant.

"Thank you, Major! Now let's get on with the tour. If you follow me, we will board a shuttle that'll take us into one of the many hangars of the SDF-1." She said as she led the group to the small craft.

While walking to shuttle, Jason stuck his tongue out at the Major. The Major simply shrugs it off and prepares to fly the shuttle.

_I am definitely __**not**__ going to have Kids. _The pilot thought to himself as he switched the flight controls on.

**July 21****st****, 2012**

**SDF-1 Macross**

**Hanger Deck VII**

Rick Hunter inspected the cockpit controls of his VF-01 Valkyrie. All instruments seem to be functioning, but there were still problems with the left engine. He turns to his left and yells.

"Hey, Max! Have you found a problem in the engine?"

From behind the jet, a black-haired man with aviator sunglasses appears and replies to his colleague.

"Yeah, I did find a problem, Ricky. There was a malfunction in the thruster. I've already called Head Engineer Oliver to requisition for a replacement part."

"Great and what about Ben's plane, is there anything wrong with it?" He asked.

At that comment, a loud chuckle was heard directly across from them. The laughter had come from Edgar LaSalle, the Skulls only RIO and resident clown. In his thick Cajun accent, the African-American officer said.

"There sure is a problem, It seems that Benjamin wastes more time getting airworthy than anyone on the squadron. Apparently, he forgot his helmet in his bunkers and almost got in the cockpit without it! But other than that, his plane is in tip-top shape."

As if on queue, Ben Dixon enters the hangar with four other men. On his right was Shin Kudo, the quiet and skilled newest recruit of Skull Squadron. On his left were Arturo Estevez, James Macmillan and Alexei Romanov; who were known as the three Stooges.

"I still can't believe I lost in a drinking game, I was a champ back home!" Estevez grunted.

"At least you don't have latrine duty, my Friend." Macmillan said in an attempt to raise his friends' spirits.

"It's Alright, It happens to everyone at some point in their life, But not to me. Not only did I get your money, but you both get to clean the crappers; which at first, was my job to do for a week." Ben gloated in his usual over the top manner.

"Go easy on them, Comrade Dixon. One of these days' they might beat you." Romanov said to the tall pilot.

"Yeah and maybe we'll get Shin to say more than five words." Ben joked.

The young Japanese pilot rook offense to the joke and said in a calm manner.

"And maybe you'll get skinner."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Ben yelled in response to Shins' rude comment.

From across the hangar, Rick, Max, and Edgar heard the shout and ran to stop the argument before it escalated into a fight.

_It's going be one of those days, again._ Rick Thought to himself as he rushed to the other end of the vast hangar deck.

**July 21****st****, 2029**

**12:00 EDT**

**Somewhere near the moon**

It was calm out in space. The moon was serene in its position from Earth, devoid of any traces of an Intelligent Race. But not now, for within several seconds, Thousands of Battleships folded into a fixed position around the moon. The largest vessel, the command ship, was gigantic and looked menacing. Inside it, Two Individuals were discussing the planet they had discovered.

In their Native Tongue, they said.

"_**Vice-Admiral Fol, What is this pitiful mud ball?" **_A giant soldier with a cybernetic eye asked his advisor.

"_**It is an A-Class planet, Sir. According to reports from our observation Posts, The planet has Seven Continents, Two Oceans, and is unified under one Political Entity: The United Nations. Further reports suggest of a population of almost 15 billion, Vast Resources, and they have knowledge of the late Admiral Zors' flagship, the Battle Fortress 2." **_Exedore Fol told his superior officer.

"_**Have they mastered any of our technology?" **_Admiral Breetai asked with fear in voice.

"_**According to reports gathered Two Solar Cycles ago, no."**_ The vice-admiral confirmed.

Breetai smirks at this thought, and gazes at the planet.

"_**What is this planet called?" **_He asks.

"**From Intercepted Transmissions, The most commonly used name by the natives for this planet is "Earth"." **Exedore replied.

"_**The planet Earth, what a nice little planet…such a shame we have to conquer it." **_Breetai said in calm and authoritative voice.

The Invasion has begun.

**What did you all think of the first chapter; I promise more action in the future. Please leave reviews.**


	4. First Contact (Part 2)

The second chapter is here and I now have a co-writer, Drew Michaels. With his writing talent and my not-so-talented writing and ideas, this could become a great story. This chapter was written mostly by Drew with some small and minor changes from me to fit with my plans for future chapters.

Chapter One: First Contact (Part 2)

The young woman sitting cross-legged on the floor sensed the de-fold operation. The 2nd Imperial Fleet had arrived at its next target of conquest. Her timing was perfect, as usual; her pre-battle meditation was complete. Miriya Parina had discovered this room soon after being posted with the fleet. Then, as an unsure recruit, she had decided to meditate in this space to calm her nerves; the room seemed at the time a simple, neglected memorial. Now, 110 kills later, she meditates to retain her focus. Battle had become tedious; no opponent was worthy to stand against her. Slowly opening her eyes, she scans the crystal statue in front of her, the imposing figure of Zor. The Creator. The most ancient legends of the Zentraedi pointed to Zor as the being who brought the whole Zentraedi race to life millennia ago. The more superstitious among her race regarded Zor as an omnipotent deity. Miriya herself regarded him as an honorable ancestor. The kernel of truth at the center of the legend was lost eons ago. It did not matter to Miriya. Contemplating the figure before her was all that did matter now; a contemplation she hoped would yield an answer to her most basic question. What is my purpose?

Miriya was glad her preparations for battle were complete, because she was soon disturbed by the sliding of the door to Zor's Temple. She could hear the figure step into the room and assume a posture of military attention.

"**Pardon the interruption, Phantom Leader,**" said a low ranking soldier, "**Your presence is requested for a mission briefing.**" (1)

"**Very well,**" Miriya replied, "**let them know I will arrive momentarily.**"

"**Yes, Phantom Leader!**" the soldier said. She saluted, spun on her heel, and left the room, eager to deliver the reply to the officers who had sent her.

Miriya slowly rose off the floor and stretched before heading to the briefing room. She felt no pity for the messenger; not all were meant for leadership and fame. Not everyone could lead the glorious Phantom Squadron.

* * *

Amanda sat waiting in the driver's seat of the truck, hoping Minmei wouldn't take too long rounding up her cousin. The radio still wasn't picking up any stations, meaning it was boring sitting in front of the middle school. They needed to hurry and get to the SDF-1 as well. Since they were catering an impromptu reception by the mayor, they had to get there while the coffee was still hot and the snacks were still cold. Amanda was not happy about having to go to her father's ship, but it helped that it would be a paying job. Lost in thought, she did not see Minmei emerge from the school until the passenger door to the truck opened.

"That was quick."

"The principal told me Jason left school early today. It looks like he's already at the SDF-1."

"Then we better roll. Can't be late to our first catering gig. We can keep an eye out for him when we set up."

Minmei shakes her head at the thought. Her cousin was a good kid, but he had no good male role models since his parents had died. I hope he's not getting into trouble at the ship.

* * *

Except for getting on that Major's case for calling him half-pint, Jason was more or less behaving. The shuttle the tour was on flew up to Hangar Deck VII, where the world famous Skull Squadron was housed, the squadron the Major commanded. Jason thought the planes were okay, but he guessed that there was something special about them, the way that Major was going on about them. Jason could also see some of the pilots working on their planes, so the tour wasn't just going through static areas of the ship. Each leg of the tours was going to be stopping in an active department.

"If you'll all step this way folks, you can see three of our Valkyries up close, each in one of its variable modes. This first one coming up on your left is in its standard fighter mode. This is the basic airframe we adapted for use with the Robotechnology found in this ship. The Valkyrie in the center is in what we call its Guardian mode. It's a hybrid form that has some of the characteristics of the original fighter but is also beginning to utilize Robotechnology as you can see by the arms and legs. The final Valkyrie is in its Battloid mode and…"

"Big whoop, so it turns into a robot," said Jason.

It's that sassy kid again, thought Roy. "I don't think you understand what a breakthrough finding the technology on this ship was, young man. Besides what's in the Valkyries, the scientists discovered the capability for interstellar flight."

"So you're saying this ship can go to other parts of the galaxy?" asked an adult on the tour.

"Yes, Ma'am, at least according to Dr. Lang and his science and engineering team. I've been told that the initial tests of the fold drive will just be within our solar system, but that alone will be exciting. Imagine getting all the way out to Pluto in a minute or two instead of the years it takes us now with conventional space missions."

"Now that would be cool," said Jason.

"That it would," answered Roy. "Does anyone have any questions about the Valkyries?"

"Why do some of them have two seats?" asked a man in the back of the group.

"Most of the two-seaters are trainer models, but a portion of them are fighter-bomber models we're testing. And the trainers have the capability of being converted to the fighter-bomber role if necessary."

* * *

The taxi carrying Pops Hunter pulled up to the main gate of the UN SPACY base, the bulk of the Macross looming in the background, like a metal mountain. One of the sentries comes to the window of the taxi. "ID please."

"Certainly." replies Pops, handing him his military ID. -Frederick Hunter, Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret.)-

"Welcome, Colonel Hunter. Are you here for the launch festivities?"

"Yup. By invitation of my adopted son, Major Fokker. Doesn't hurt that my son Rick is in Skull Squadron too."

"Very good, Sir; you are confirmed as on the guest list. Have you made quartering arrangements yet?"

"Yes, Private. I'm supposed to have a room in the visiting BOQs for the next couple of days, although ultimately I'll be finding something off base. I've decided to surprise my boys and move to Macross Island permanently."

"Everything seems to be in order, Col. Hunter. The BOQs are in the northern sector of the base. Have your driver take the second left off this main road into the base. After that turn, the BOQs will be on your left, six streets down."

"Thank you, Private." said Pops, who gives the enlisted guard a salute. As the taxi moves through the gate, Pops begins to think about Rick and Roy. He wasn't sure surprising the boys with the move would be a good thing, but he would rather spend his retirement working on patching up things with them than sitting alone on the mainland. Pops hoped he'd have a chance to talk to them before the official festivities begin.

"IDs please." the sentry asked the next vehicle in line. The two young women each hand them their driver's license. "Your business here at Macross base?"

"We're from the White Dragon Coffee House. We've been hired by Capt. Gloval to cater the Mayor's reception this afternoon." Amanda said.

"Hmm. I don't see you on the list. Oh wait, there you are."

"Does it say where we're supposed to be setting up?"

"No, it doesn't. Let me call up to the protocol officer and find out." The sentry calls on a comm. link and confers with someone within the massive ship. After a few minutes, he returns with information for the girls. "The Mayor's reception will be in a tent pavilion at the airbase. Take your first right off this main road and follow it for about four kilometers. You will reach a separate gate for the airbase; the sentries there know to expect you. I believe the Mayor's tent has been set up as close to the Macross as possible, but the airbase sentries will have further directions."

"Thank you!" both girls said. After getting their IDs back from the guard, Amanda and Minmei drive into the base and follow the route they had been given.

* * *

Behind the moon, the stragglers of the Zentraedi fleet were finishing with their defolds. The idea was to stay in the shadow of this planet's satellite until it was time to attack. It almost didn't happen; the first of the ships defolded right on top of Moonbase ALUCE. Only a quick thinking cruiser commander kept the base from sending a warning to the target planet, launching an Energy Hammer at the Earth's lunar facility. There was now only debris slowly drifting back down to the regolith and a tangled mass of metal where the base had been.

**"That was too close Exedore,"** Breetai said. **"The report from two Solar Cycles ago did not mention any base on this satellite."**  
**  
"Yes that was a bit distressing, my Lord," **replied Exedore,** "but the commander of the cruiser Death Hand dealt with the problem swiftly. My calculations show the base was destroyed before a warning message could be sent."**

"It is a good thing not all our ship commanders have vacuum for brains then. It allows us to maintain the element of surprise, although I feel we may not enjoy it for long. How much time delay in the primitive communications of these Earthlings?"

"I believe, Sir, that it will be several minutes before they even notice communications have been cut off. They will surely waste a significant amount of time trying to determine if the cut off was caused by an equipment malfunction. I do not believe they have any craft available to quickly investigate either."

**"Very well, Exedore; if the last of our ships have finished defolding, then I will begin briefing all the ship commanders. Also, I wish the commander of the Death Hand to receive an official commendation and decoration."  
**

**"Yes, my Lord. I will make sure the fleet communication channels are prepared and functional." **

* * *

Roy felt lucky to be done with his portion of the tour: the Valkyries and the hangar areas. Lt. Hayes had the honor of escorting the civilians the rest of the way.

_Wonder if there's anything cold to drink in the squadron lounge? _The leader of Skull Squadron thought to himself.

Roy enters the pilots' relaxation room and notices a few of the Skulls have a poker game going. He grabs a cola from the vending machine and saunters over to the table.

"Mind if I sit in?" He asked.

"Sure, major," Ben said. "Grab a seat and I'll deal you in next hand."

"What's the ante?" Roy asked.

"A quarter," Rick said. "No high stakes while we're on duty. It's just to kill time."

"So Major," Max said, "Rumor has it you were stationed near Macross Island when this ship crash landed."

"Yeah, that's right Max. Skull Squadron was flying off the Prometheus at that time."

"So what was it like that day?" Max asked.

"Kinda freaky actually," admitted Roy. "I was flying an intercept against some Su-27s the Anti-UN forces were sending against us. We never got a contact on their tankers, but they had to have had some sort of aerial refueling to reach the island. I don't know why they were bothering attacking though; Macross was only a bare bones outpost at that point. But there were nothing but bombs and missiles on their hard points. No spots wasted on drop tanks."

"Normal day," said Shin.

"Well, yeah, it started normal, if you could call an alert scramble normal," said Roy. "I had splashed two bogeys and was lining up a third when fighter control on the carrier starts yelling at me to break off. Seems they got a big radar contact coming in from what they thought was a sub-orbital trajectory."

"Whoa! Everybody must have been ******** their pants," said MacMillan. "I bet they all thought it was a ballistic missile inbound."

"Yep, especially when all the confirmed bogeys started breaking off and bugging out. So control tells me to climb and see if I can get a positive ID on what the hell was coming at us."

"Geez big brother, you never told me this story before." said Rick.

"Sorry, Rick, but I couldn't tell you. This incident was only declassified recently. Anyway, I'm almost at 50 angels (2) before I get a visual on it."

"Was clearly not missile," Alexei said with his accent thick.

"You got that right! No one knew what the hell it was at the time, but it was definitely heading towards the island. I radioed them to start evacuating."

"Holy cow, there couldn't have been enough time to get off the island by the time you spotted it," said Ben.

"Luckily there was only a small skeleton crew there at the time. But we did lose people in the impact. And what an impact! The island was twice as big before this thing hit. The Impact alone caused a major tsunami across the Pacific. A huge debris cloud got flung airborne. The carrier was bobbing up and down like a bathtub toy. It was some crazy ****, that's for sure."

"And the rest, they say, is history," said LaSalle.

"Pretty much, guys," said Roy, "and the Macross has been sitting right here in this exact spot for the last ten years while we've been researching and renovating it. Well, enough of that, you guys dealing me in or not?"

"Sure Major. It's Texas Hold-em this hand. Nothing wild," Ben said as he shuffled the deck.

* * *

Jason was wondering how much longer this tour was going to go on for. Some of it had been interesting, for the sheer size of things if not for its actual function. The water recycling and processing facility was totally boring but the Hydroponics section was kind of neat. That tour guide, Lt. Hayes said they could grow enough food on board for a large city. She said the Macross was designed to be as self sufficient as possible for the deep space mission it will ultimately leave on and Hydroponics and Water Reclamation were two of the departments that would make it possible.

The Lieutenant also said there would also be repair and manufacturing facilities for the Valkyrie fighters and any other Veritech mecha being used by the RDF, including the new Hoplite medium tank, a ground attack vehicle. All well and good, but not what Jason was really hoping to see on this tour.

That was the next stop, the Bridge. Jason couldn't explain it, but he was always drawn to the command areas of large ships. His cousin Minmei thought maybe he had been a ship's captain in a past life. He didn't think too hard about it. Jason just knew that he belonged on the bridge. It was a long strange trip to reach it though.

The group only had to fly up to the first main stop, the hangar deck, but they were still forced to take high speed ground transportation to reach other stops on the tour.

_At least that crabby Major didn't stay with us. _He thought.

He actually really did like the pilots and their Valkyries, since so many of those men stopped in at the coffee house. It was just something about that Major Fokker that set Jason's teeth on edge. Following at the back of the group, Jason finally stepped through one last door and onto the bridge. It was more brightly lit than he would have expected; half the perimeter of the room was nothing but giant windows.

"Cool."

The Lieutenant was talking about all the bridge stations as Jason came further into the large room.

"This is my regular duty station, people. I am the main flight control officer for the entire air wing stationed on the Macross. That means I direct the pilots on their patrols and in battle. They depend on me to give them the instructions and information they need and to see the big picture for them, so they can concentrate on flying."

There was some murmuring among the crowd. Lisa waited to see if there were any questions before continuing.

"The next station is to your immediate right. It is the duty area for Lt. Cmdr Grant here. She is in charge of the bridge area, making sure this area of the ship runs smoothly. The behind you to your right is Lt. Leeds at the main radar systems duty station. She is the eyes and ears of the Macross. The radar systems of the Macross can reach out past the orbit of the moon, a range that will be extremely welcome and necessary when we go into deep space at these first shake down cruises. Continuing clock-wise is Lt. Young, who is in charge of the ship's systems duty station. And finally Lt. Porter, who is my back up at flight control and is at the flight plotting duty station. On her radar subsystem, she watches the flight paths of any airborne assets. Without her data, I can't effectively direct the pilots from my station." Each of the young officers gives a quick wave to the tourists.

Lisa pauses before continuing, "And of course, Captain Gloval, who is in command of the Macross."

"Thank you Lt. Hayes," said the captain. "I hope all of you have enjoyed your tour to this point."

Gloval acknowledges the murmurs of assent before returning control of the tour to Lt. Hayes. He was surprised to see a young boy with the tour, since it was a school day and became even more surprised when he recognized the child. It was the cousin of that young woman that worked for his daughter Amanda. Henry slowly rose, quietly walked towards the boy and put a hand on the child's shoulder. He bends down slightly before addressing the youngster.

"Does your cousin know you are playing hooky?"

Jason looks quickly at the voice and goes pale. He had forgotten the Captain was the dad of Minmei's boss. Amanda didn't talk a lot about him, or to him whenever he came in the store either. Jason thought there had been some sort of big argument between them a long time ago, but Amanda wasn't going to be telling him that; he was just a kid.

"Are you going to tell?"

"Why should I not call your cousin immediately? I would think she would be worried sick that you are not in school."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I had to leave school early today! It felt like I had to be here, like I was meant to be here on the bridge."

Henry smiled at the answer. He would have given a similar answer when he was this boy's age. "Very well, I will not call. But you must tell Minmei yourself. You will have a chance at the end of the tour. Your cousin will be waiting for you in the Mayor's tent"

"I thought you said you weren't going to call."

"I will not call her about your little adventure," replied Capt. Gloval. "They are probably here already because the Mayor has hired my daughter to provide refreshments at his little reception today."

Jason gives the Captain a sheepish grin before moving towards the front window areas. The bridge deck was at the very top of the Macross; it was like looking out at the summit of a very tall mountain. A mountain Jason would conquer as an adult, he was sure of it.

* * *

The tent set up near the Macross was one of the biggest Amanda had ever seen, with dozens of tables placed under its lofty cover. The Mayor's staff had directed Amanda and Minmei to the back corner, the opposite end of the tent from where a press podium had been set up. Four tables had been set up for their wares, now it was just the effort to get the truck unloaded and the food arranged for ease of serving and for presentation. On one table, Amanda was working on setting up the various coffee carafes, the sweeteners and the creamers. On another table, Minmei was working on setting up platters of Danish and other pastries, cutting them into hors d'ouvres size where necessary. A third table held all the cookies and other dessert type snacks. The final table was covered with stacks of plates, cups and napkins. No silverware was needed; everything they had brought was finger food. There would be just enough time for the girls to change into the catering uniforms Amanda had purchased months ago, to be ready when they got that first catering job.

"Why don't you go get changed, Minmei? I can finish setting up things here." Amanda told Minmei.

"Sure, Amanda; I'll be quick about it." Minmei said as she left for the van to change.

Putting the finishing touches on the last table, Amanda takes a step aback and admires the hard work the two young women had put in. She didn't think this reception was a "make it or break it" situation for the coffee house, but it would be a huge boost if everything went smoothly.

"Ah, Ms. Gloval," said the Mayor, "everything looks splendid. I'm glad you could provide such a delightful spread on such short notice."

"Thank you Mr. Mayor. I am glad to be helping. Everything is set up and once I'm changed we'll be good to go." She replied.

"Changed?" The mayor inquired.

"Yes Mr. Mayor, we of course have uniforms for the catering side of the business."

"Ah, yes. I should have figured that. You're not here by yourself, are you?" He stated as obvious.

"No, sir, my assistant is already getting changed. In fact, here she is now." Amanda said as Minmei comes forward.

Minmei was good on her word to change quickly and returned in the bright white dress with blue highlights that the Amanda had decided would be the catering uniform. The bodice was styled after the traditional Chinese dress worn by noblewomen while the skirt had a distinct Western style, being tea length with a straight drape and short slit up each leg. Blue ballet flats and blue accent pieces finished the outfit. On Minmei, the dress looked perfect, like she was a princess to one of the ancient Imperial dynasties.

"Hello Mr. Mayor! What do you think?"

"Quite impressive, Ms. Minmei; Well good luck to you girls, I need to get my own finishing touches ready."

"Bye, Mr. Mayor." said Minmei, practically singing.

"Okay, Minmei," Amanda said, "keep an eye on everything while I get changed. Then it will be show time."

"Sure thing." Minmei infectiously laughed.

* * *

Pops Hunter was sitting on the bed in his assigned quarters. It was almost time to head over to the Mayor's reception but he wasn't quite ready to leave. Pops really wanted to talk to Rick now that he was here on Macross Island. They had spoken harsh words to each other the day his son left to join the military; words Pops knew he regretted. He wasn't sure about Rick though. His son always was a hot head and was always very stubborn. Pops wouldn't be surprised if Rick was still holding a grudge all these years since.

_I still need to talk to him_. He thought to himself.

Picking up the phone, Pops asks the operator on base to patch him through to the Skull Squadron offices. It would be a start, and maybe he could talk to Roy as well. After several rings, someone finally picks up the receiver.

"Skull Squadron, Pvt. Estevez speaking. How may I help you?"

"This is Col. Fred Hunter. I would like to speak with Ensign Rick Hunter please."

"One moment please, Colonel. Let me check if Ens. Hunter is available. He may be on duty in the hangar. We had a tour come through about an hour ago."

Pops hears a commotion in the background; it was as if Rick were saying he didn't want to talk with his own Dad.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but Ens. Hunter does not seem to be available. Would you like me to leave a message for him?"

"Yes, request the Ensign to get his ass down to the Mayor's reception area or else!"

"You got it Colonel. Is there anything else?"

"No private, thank you."

It looked like Rick's grudge was still going strong.

* * *

"**Are the preparations complete, Vice Admiral?**" Breetai asked.

"**They are indeed my Lord. The fleet is ready for your briefing,**" replied Exedore.

"**Excellent.**"

Breetai regarded his executive officer with wonder and mutual respect. Quite a bit smaller than the average Zentraedi, Exedore could still be a formidable opponent. What he lacked in raw strength he made up for with that rarest of Zentraedi assets: a keen, analytical mind. That is not to say Exedore would not fight; he would not fight from a position of weakness. Exedore's grasp of strategy was almost as strong as Breetai's own. That made the pair of them an extremely dangerous combination. It also made them a strange sight on the ship, since Breetai was much larger than the average Zentraedi. It was of no matter to Breetai; their pairing in the chain of command made defeat of the enemy practically inevitable. Defeat was inevitable for the three hundred and twenty eight civilizations the 2nd Imperial Fleet had already visited.

"**Open the comm. link.**"

"**Yes, my Lord.**"

**"Attention, brave warriors of the 2nd Imperial Fleet. You prepare to go yet again to battle, to glorious conquest. But this battle today is different. Today we have an unimaginable prize within our grasp. On the planet below us lies the remains of Zor's lost battle fortress!"** Breetai could imagine the collective gasp rushing through his troops.

"**Ultimate glory awaits those who recover the fortress intact! I intend to reap that glory. To that effect, the cruisers and gunships will sweep in and destroy any orbital defenses this pathetic race may have arrayed. Enemy fighter resistance will be dealt with by Phantom and Wraith squadrons. The attack begins in thirty time sub-cycles. (3) For the glory of the Zentraedi Empire! HAIL DOLZA!**"

Breetai motioned for the comm. link to be terminated. Events were now in motion that would elevate him to the level of Emperor Dolza, or would destroy him in shame; Ever since the battle that cost him his eye, Breetai has been seeking the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Dolza. The fatal mistake that battle was not his; he only had the misfortune of being the highest ranking survivor.

But the Zentraedi Imperial Command rarely blamed the dead.

It was much more effective to punish the living. The living made much better examples. Looking back, it had only been the intersession of then Prince Dolza that had saved Breetai from a horrible torture and execution. Breetai still had to deal with a humiliating loss of rank, but his prowess in battle soon had him climbing the command ladder again. And now, with Zor's battle fortress within his grasp, Breetai could erase the final black spot from his record.

_**It was meant to be.**_ He thought.

In the Phantom Squadron ready room, Miriya contemplated the now dark comm. screen.

**Zor's Battle Fortress**;

_**The fates have smiled upon me indeed. Who else but a follower of Zor would lead the assault?**_ Miriya had no illusions;

It would come down to the Phantom Squadron again to make the final push to secure the objective.

"**Prepare for battle Phantom Squadron! Tonight we taste victory on Zor's battle fortress!**"

The dozens of females in the squadron run haphazardly to their power suits. Miriya merely smirks before walking to hers at a slow, almost bored gait. It alone was painted a dark red, a stark contrast to the olive drab coloring of the rest of the squadron's mecha. Miriya had earned that right as the best pilot in the Zentraedi fleet. It is what has earned her the name Red Phantom. She climbs calmly into her mecha and begins the pre-flight checks.

_**Yes, how fitting a daughter of Zor will be the one to recover his fortress**_. She thinks before preparing for take-off.

* * *

Admiral Donald Hayes sat in his office outside London, working through the never ending pile of paperwork. It seemed all flag officers in the U.N. SPACY ever did now was push paper. But this is what he wanted, the rank and respect, the authority to command vast fleets.

And of course, his little pet project;

Tucked in the wilderness of Alaska in the United States was a facility that would make more of a difference than that ship on Macross Island. Ships were too easy to destroy. This project would be the one to do the destroying. When it was completed in the next year or so it would be the most powerful weapon ever produced by mankind. And it would easily blow that battle fortress out of the sky.

The exploration aspect of the ship was capturing the attention of the media right now, but Adm. Hayes had no doubts that ultimately his project would be the one to protect the Earth. He thought his project should have been completed before the renovation of the fortress, but the United Earth government wouldn't be swayed on that point.

_No matter_. Thought the Admiral, _the Grand Cannon would be operational soon enough_.

Adm. Hayes heard his aide knock on the door to his office.

"Enter."

"Sorry to bother you Admiral, but we've received a disturbing report. All communication has been lost with Moonbase ALUCE." The aide said.

"Son, are you telling me we lost all communications?"

"Yes, Sir. Our technicians have determined that it is not due to any failure of terrestrial equipment. The problem is at the base."

"How long will it take to get a ship up there to investigate?" Adm. Hayes inquires.

"At least an hour, if we dispatch a ship immediately." The young officer tells the admiral.

"Then have it so ordered! We need to know what's going on up there."

"Very well, Sir." The aide salutes and then exits the office.

_With any luck, it was just a malfunction of the comm. equipment at ALUCE_. Thought Adm. Hayes;

He looks out the window at the London skyline to the south, admiring the old and new buildings shining in the sun. Except it's not the sun. The glow is coming from the sky but from the wrong direction to be the sun. And it's gradually getting brighter.

_What on God's green earth…_

(1) Translated from the Zentraedi language.

(2) The "50 angels" reference is old pilot slang for altitude. It is equal to 50,000 ft.

(3) Sub-cycle: Zentraedi equivalent of a Minute.

Errors: In the first chapter, Zor was referred to as an Admiral. But I'll retcon that Zor as just some rogue Zentraedi who took the name of his people's creator. This Zentraedi was a rebel who stole Zor's battle fortress so that he could star a revolution against Dolza. This was seen as blasphemy to all Zentraedi, who tried to reclaim the fortress before it made an accident fold.

Also, this fanfiction is rated T for: Minor Coarse language, Mild Suggestive themes, and references to alcohol. (I don't know what they actually allow, I'm just stickler for the rules)


	5. Drums of War (Part 1)

Episode 2: Drums of War (Part 1)

True to the Captain's word, Jason and the rest of the tour group finished up at the Mayor's reception tent. Although Jason was hungry, he was hoping to avoid talking with his cousin, Minmei. The tent had been set up on the base airfield and parked nearby was another of those Valkyries the Major had been droning on about. This one was different though. It was one of the two seat models and based on all the missiles hanging from the wings it was probably a fighter-bomber. That was not what made it different though. It was painted a pure white with yellow and black trim. The vertical rudder surfaces were painted black and had skull and crossbones painted on them. In block lettering just below the open canopy was a name: Fokker. This was the Major's plane.

_I wonder why there's no name painted for the second seat?_

The maintenance crews had the cockpit ladders set up but not as an official part of the tour. Still, Jason thought a quick peak wouldn't hurt, and it was as good a place as any to avoid seeing Minmei. Moving over to the plane, Jason takes a look around and sees no one is watching over by the plane. That gives him a chance to scramble up the ladder and hop into the rear seat.

_Better hiding spot, I think._

* * *

Roy wandered to the refreshment table, more out of boredom than actual hunger. He would have preferred to stay up in the hangar bay playing poker, but Capt. Gloval had strongly suggested that it was mandatory for the ship's department heads to be present at the Mayor's little reception. At least I was able to miss all the speeches. He didn't actually know why he had to be here; he knew none of the civilian leaders and none of them seemed to care to talk to him. At least the coffee would be good. The event was being catered by the White Dragon Coffee House, the place Roy thought had the best coffee on the whole island.

"Did you need something, Major?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, please. A dark roast, black;"

"You shouldn't be drinking that stuff this late in the day, Roy."

Surprised by the new voice, Roy spins around and comes face to face with Pops Hunter. He was a little surprised to see him in civvies, but not surprised to see him here.

"I didn't think you'd skip the invite to this shin-dig, such as it is." The major said to his adoptive father.

"I would never pass up the chance to see my sons. But I guess Rick's still a bit sore at Me."

"That's an understatement, Pops."

"I want to try and patch things up. Do you think you could talk to him about it?"

"I'll try, Pops, but I'm not going to guarantee anything. You know how stubborn Rick can get."

"Well I've got all the time in the world now that I'm retired. I've even moved here to Macross Island permanently, just to have a chance to try and make things right."

"Wonderful timing Frederick," said a new voice.

Roy snaps to attention, which causes Pops to turn towards the new-comer. He smiles warmly as he recognizes the face belonging to the voice.

"Henry Gloval, you old sea-dog what are you doing here?"

"Learning to be a space-dog, my friend; they have put me in command of all this." Capt. Gloval makes a sweeping gesture towards the Macross.

"And at ease Major, I did not mean to interrupt your family gathering."

"That's okay, Captain," Roy said, "I think Pops and I were done talking for now."

"You will talk to him, right?" asked Pops.

"I will, I promise. Just no guarantees about how he'll respond." Roy replied.

"That's all I can ask, Roy. Thanks." Pops said.

_I know you've both got reasons to be mad at me._

* * *

"Look sharp, girls," said Lt Cmdr Claudia Grant. "The last thing we need is for the Captain to come back from the Mayor's reception and see his bridge crew slacking off."

A chorus of various affirmations rang out from the junior officers on duty.

"Cmdr Grant," said Lt Leeds, "the UHF radar is picking up some anomalies. It looks like we have some inbound craft from Moonbase ALUCE, but there's nothing scheduled to be coming back to Earth today."

"Keep tracking those, Vanessa, and check the radar system, just in case it's a bad signal."

"Yes, Ma'am,"

"Lt. Porter" Cmdr Grant said, "Anything on the Lima band radar?"

"Negative, Commander," Sammy answered, "no contacts out to maximum range. Nothing is airborne anywhere near us."

"Damn," said Cmdr Grant, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Do you think we need to go on alert?" asked Lt. Hayes.

"That would be the Captain's call, unless something starts attacking this ship directly."

"Diagnostics are finished, Cmdr Grant," Vanessa said. "All systems show one hundred percent. There is nothing wrong with the UHF band."

"So the blips are real. What the heck are those contacts doing?"

"Some of them appear to be heading towards Europe. Some seem to be heading towards cities in Asia."

"And you're sure the tracks originated from ALUCE?"

"They are definitely lunar trajectories and not sub-orbital."

"Check the databases and see if any of those tracks match an orbit of a known asteroid or comet. Something is not adding up here."

"Aye, aye," several members of the bridge crew respond.

_Our own people wouldn't be shooting at us, would they?_ Thought Claudia.

* * *

Admiral Hayes was moving towards his office window in an attempt to figure out what was causing the unusual brightness in the sky when a warning klaxon went off.

"What in the name of the Royal family is that about?"

His aide rushes into the office. "Admiral, I need to escort you to the shelter. Warning radar has detected something heading straight towards the city."

"Directly at London?! Do they have any identification on it?"

"No, Sir. Only that it's coming in on a lunar trajectory."

"What?" said the Admiral "That can't be!"

"There will be time for analysis later, Sir. We only have a few minutes before impact. I really must insist you hurry to the shelter."

"Very well, Lieutenant; Lead the way at whatever pace you feel is prudent."

"Yes, Sir; if you'll please come this way?"

The two mean head to the elevator area. Entering a vacant car, the Admiral enters his override code and the lift begins to descend rapidly to the building's sub-levels. Moments later, the door to the elevator car opens at the lowest level of the facility, one hundred and fifty feet below ground. The two men begin a dead run to the shelter, arriving seconds before the closure protocol begins.

"Do we still have contact with Alaska Base or RDF Headquarters in North America?" asks Admiral Hayes as he enters the command area of the shelter bunker.

"Affirmative, Sir, but they don't have any idea what that object is either. And apparently this…thing isn't the only one heading towards Earth. Several others seem to be targeted on other European cities and a number of cities in Asia."

"How much time do we have until impact?"

"Estimated time is calculated at approximately thirty seconds, Sir."

"Just enough time for a prayer, gentlemen."

_God help us all._

The men and women in the bunker watch the outside video feed on the main monitor as the last seconds tick off. As a timer hits zero, a bright flash fills the screen, followed by a gigantic mushroom cloud, easily twenty times larger than the one at Hiroshima. Then they see the debris line from the blast wave come careening at the camera position on the roof of the building. Then there was nothing but static.

"Good God! We're at least forty kilometers from the estimated impact site!" said a junior officer.

"Do we have any other visuals?" asked a Captain from Intelligence.

"None in the city, sir; Attempting to access a satellite surveillance feed." said the sergeant manning the video controls.

Other conversations are heard in the background as officers and technicians at other posts in the bunker try to get information. Most of the news is grim. There is a report, unconfirmed, of King Charles dying in the impact and an equally unconfirmed report that the Royal shelter is still intact but communications have been lost. One confirmed report comes in that the Prince of Wales and his family are safe. The British government is in chaos; Parliament and the Prime Minister's residence were within a kilometer of the estimated ground zero for the explosion and all contact is currently lost.

"Getting satellite data now, Sirs." said the sergeant.

A video feed centered on the British Isles and the Channel appears. Soon the sergeant manning the feed zooms in to where London should be, but there is only a crater roughly three kilometers across. Surrounding the crater is a blast field almost one hundred kilometers in diameter. London no longer existed.

Seeing the shock on several of the faces of the junior officers, Admiral Hayes tried to keep them busy and mentally active.

"What is the radiation level out there Lieutenant Graham?" Admiral Hayes asked.

"It's … hold on, that can't be correct."

"Spit it out Lieutenant"

"The radiation level outside is, background normal, confirmed by both ground and aerial instruments."

Everyone in the bunker falls silent at that announcement.

* * *

_On the Macross:_

"The objects are still tracking towards Earth, Commander Grant." Lt. Leeds said.

"Although, I've lost contact past the horizon with the objects that were heading for Europe;" She added.

"Starting to pick up three on the Lima band, Commander," said Lt Porter. "They do not match any know ship configuration. They don't appear to be ships at all; they look more like meteors."

"So they're not missiles?" asked Cmdr Grant.

"Negative. From the radar signal, they do not appear to be man-made at all. But they are on an impact trajectory. The three heading towards Asia will make contact in about two minutes."

"Lt. Young contact the Captain immediately," Cmdr. Grant orders. "Inform him of the situation."

"Yes, Ma'am," Kim responds. "Is there anything else I should tell him?"

"No Lieutenant, but please tell him to heed the urgency of what is happening."

"Aye, Ma'am."

"What do you think is happening, Claudia?" asks Lt. Hayes.

"I don't buy it. There can't be that many 'natural' objects of that size impacting Earth at such a wide spread. My gut is telling me someone or something launched those."

"But there's no proof that it's not a natural disaster, is there."

"Yeah. A gut feeling is not a good defense for a court martial."

"Commander! I'm getting reports from U.N.D. Command in Colorado. London, Berlin, and Moscow have been destroyed in Europe! Houston and New York City in North America and Buenos Aires in South America have also suffered incredible devastation." barked Lt. Young.

"Those three objects I've been tracking have touched down. They appear to have made bulls-eyes on Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo," Sammy reported.

"We can't wait for the Captain to get back up here," Cmdr Grant said. "Sound General Quarters Lt. Young! Whatever those things were, they were not accidental impacts."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am," said Kim. The loud buzzing of the ship's warning klaxon begins filling the room.

"Lt. Leeds, focus the UHF radar on the area of the moon. I have a sneaky feeling someone has been hiding there on the far side."

"Yes, Ma'am, but wouldn't Moonbase ALUCE have sounded a warning?" asked Vanessa.

"Not if they were destroyed first by this interloper."

"Cmdr. Grant, we're receiving orders from RDF HQ in Colorado. Immediate lift-off has been ordered."

"Damn! Hope Capt. Gloval gets back up here soon," said Claudia. "Lisa, make the announcement"

"I'm on it," said Lt Hayes. "Attention! All hands to battle stations. Prepare for lift-off. This is not a drill! Repeat all hands to battle stations. All civilians should make their way to the nearest survival shelter immediately."

"Commander, it's difficult to make it out so close to the moon's disk, but there appears to be several dozen cruiser sized ships near the lunar horizon," said Vanessa, "and there appears to be a swarm of fighter sized craft making their way to Earth. Difficult to determine numbers at this distance, but I'd estimate several hundred."

"All pilots, man your planes!" barks Lt Hayes over the PA system, "enemy fighters inbound from the vicinity of the moon. This is not a drill. All pilots, man your planes!"

* * *

To be continued….


	6. Drums of War (Part 2)

Drums of War (Pt II)

_Ten minutes earlier, outside the Macross:_

"I am sorry to hear that you and young Rick have been estranged, my friend," said Capt. Gloval.

"I am too, Henry," said Pops, "but sometimes you can't help it when you're a military lifer."

"All too true, Frederick," said Capt. Gloval.

He thinks to his relationship with his own daughter, which is even less cordial than between Pops and Rick. As he is pondering his own estrangement, the cell phone in his uniform coat begins buzzing. Pops Hunter watches his friend answer; he can only hear Henry's side of the conversation.

"Capt. Gloval speaking…Yes Lt. Young…Very well, I am on my way."

" Is there trouble on the bridge, Henry?"

"Hopefully nothing too serious," Capt. Gloval replies. "Why don't you come up with me? I'm sure you would appreciate a private tour."

"Sure. I don't have anything better to do since Rick isn't down here to talk."

* * *

"The tour has arrived at the tent, but I didn't see Jason with anyone from the tour group," Minmei said.

"I bet he doesn't want you yelling at him for leaving school early without permission," replied Amanda.

"As hard as I try to be there for him, Jason just does what he wants. Even if he isn't trying to be a nuisance, trouble seems to follow that boy around."

"Hello ladies," interrupts Major Fokker, "could I get a refill on that dark roast?"

"Sure thing Major," Amanda said.

"Who was that man you were talking to?" asks Minmei. "I haven't seen him around before."

"That's Pops Hunter. He's a guest of mine for this 'Grand Opening' shindig the Mayor and UND is throwing for the Macross. He's also my adoptive dad."

"And Ensign Hunter's biological father, if I am connecting the dots correctly." Amanda said.

"You are indeed. You wouldn't know it the way Rick is snubbing Pops, but frankly, I'm on Rick's side in that argument," Roy said.

"I can imagine," Amanda said.

She thinks to her feeling of her own father and she still can't forgive him about the death of her Mother.

_There should have been some way he could have been home for her. She wouldn't have died if Dad had been there. _

She didn't want to spend time thinking about her situation though, at least until they were done with today's catering job. To focus back on work, Amanda looks out at the crowd of customers in the tent, all chatting among themselves. She sees their expressions change as warning klaxons begin shrieking out of the PA speakers around the base and on the Macross.

* * *

The klaxons blare in the Skull ready room too. Pilots throw their cards on the table and take their money back from the pot; this hand was cancelled. Ben started cursing. The pot had gotten huge and he had four kings in his hand. Some of the men were speculating it was only a drill. That illusion was shattered by Lt. Hayes' announcement.

_"Attention! All hands to battle stations. Prepare for lift-off. This is not a drill! Repeat all hands to battle stations. All civilians should make their way to the nearest survival shelter immediately."_

Several pilots curse. The squadron trots out to their planes, preparing for the worst. Battle stations for them meant getting the planes ready to launch.

"What do you think is happening, Rick?" asked Max.

"I don't know. We've gotten zero info from the bridge."

"Bet you Major Fokker would know," Ben said.

"I am thinking you have gambling problem, Benjamin," Alexei said. "I will see you all later. I must go and join my unit up, in case there is need for AAA." (1)

Pvt. Romanov leaves the hangar deck at a dead run, heading to the bays housing the new Hoplite tanks. The great advantage of these new mecha was their Guardian mode: Dual 40mm Gatling style cannon, each firing two hundred rounds per minute, a nice complement to the 75mm main gun each had. A squadron of Hoplites could throw up an impressive wall of lead against enemy fighter craft. Its poor mobility in Guardian mode was a drawback though.

Pvt. McMillan also quickly left the Skull's hangar area, but he had a different destination. James hustled towards sick-bay. As a medic under Jean Grant, the CMO of the ship, he was needed to prepare to handle possible casualties. He would rather be staying and climbing into a cockpit with his friends, but they don't give billion dollar fighters to people like him. Pushing his glasses up, he quickens his pace towards his duty station.

"Lots of fuss," Shin said.

"Tell me about it," LaSalle said. "With Skull One down on the tarmac for the Mayor's reception, I don't have a ride."

"You want be my GIB then, Joker?" asked Rick. (2)

"Be serious, Hunter. You're not even flying one of the two seaters," LaSalle said.

"Just thought I'd offer."

"Joke's on you," Shin said.

"I've been assigned a two seater today," Ben said. "What's it worth to you?"

"Seriously, are you kidding me? You're going to charge me to ride?"

Before Ensign Dixon can reply, another announcement blares from the PA system.

_"All pilots, man your planes! Enemy fighters inbound from the vicinity of the moon. This is not a drill. All pilots, man your planes!"_

"Two cartons of smokes," LaSalle quickly tells Ben.

"Deal," the big pilot responds, "Let's get going!"

* * *

_Back outside the Macross:_

_"Attention! All hands to battle stations. Prepare for lift-off. This is not a drill! Repeat all hands to battle stations. All civilians should make their way to the nearest survival shelter immediately."_

An unsure murmur flows through the crowd in the Mayor's reception tent. Amanda and Minmei see looks of panic in the eyes of the people nearest their refreshment table. Nobody seems to know what they should do next or where they should be going.

"Attention everyone," the Mayor announces over the tent's speaker system, "kindly and calmly make your way through the main entrance of the tent and the security staff here on the base will guide you to the nearest shelter. Please do not panic."

The reassurance from the Mayor made everyone feel calmer and the guests moved in an orderly manner to the shelters. Amanda looked at Minmei and shrugged before following the crowd out the tent.

_We will just have to get our serving equipment later,_ she thinks.

"Have you seen Jason anywhere in the tent?" Minmei asks.

"I haven't, but there are only so many places he could go," Amanda said, "since a child cannot roam free on a military base."

"I hope he listens to the announcement and heads to a shelter."

"We will find him after this situation is finished." Amanda pats the arm of her friend and employee and moves along with the crowd exiting the tent and heading to the nearest shelters.

* * *

When the klaxons first started going off, Major Fokker quickly moved to a pair of the privates providing security around the tent. They were more to keep the civilians from wandering where they weren't supposed to go rather than to keep anyone from harming the civilians. He was trying to find out information from them when he heard Lt. Hayes' first announcement over the PA system.

"Well, I guess you know as much as I do now," Roy said to the soldiers.

He broke away from the crowd at the mouth of the tent and starting moving towards Skull One, his plane being his battle station. Even if fighters weren't needed to deal with crisis, he would have to get Skull One back to the Macross eventually. As he nears where his plane was parked for the reception, Lt Hayes' second announcement comes blaring over the PA system. Roy swears and breaks into a dead run; he needed to get to a runway and get airborne as fast as possible. Ground crews had moved to prepare the fighter as soon as the klaxons began wailing; all Roy had to do was climb in and start taxiing. He wouldn't have his RIO this mission; Ensign LaSalle was still up in the squadron ready room. It was better this way, though. LaSalle didn't take flying seriously enough. That's part of the reason the junior officer's call sign was "Joker".

Reaching the fighter, Roy practically vaults into the cockpit. A member of the ground crew takes the ladder away as the plane's canopy begins closing. In all the commotion, no one has noticed young Jason was sleeping in the rear seat of the ship. The sound of the engines spinning up to full power did not wake him up; he is still asleep as Skull One begins heading to the closest runway.

* * *

_In the Macross_

Captain Gloval and Pops Hunter had gotten into the lift to the bridge moments before the klaxon began sounding. The Captain had already entered his override code for a direct trip to the bridge.

"I'll to find a ready room or the like to sit tight, Henry," Pops tells his friend.

"Nonsense, Frederick," Gloval replies, "You will be fine on the bridge. There are extra chairs for visiting officers."

"I'm not an officer anymore, Henry. Did you forget I'm a civilian now?"

"Do not worry, my friend. We will get things sorted out when we reach the bridge. Until then, enjoy the tour."

Captain Gloval was speaking calmly and evenly, but a twinkle of mischief could be seen in his eyes if Pops had bothered to look. Lt. Hayes first announcement comes over the lift's speakers about half way up. The lift opens on the Bridge deck and the two men stride purposefully towards the control center of the ship. As the door to the Bridge opens, Pops and the Captain hear Lt Hayes' second announcement.

"Boizhe moi! I need a status report!" Capt. Gloval barks out. He points to a vacant chair to the left, motioning for Pops to sit.

"Several large objects have impacted the Earth," Cmdr grant says. "Several cities have reported immense devastation from the impacts. RDF Headquarters in Colorado has given us orders to lift off immediately."

"And the fighters?" asks Capt. Gloval.

"They are coming from some cruiser sized ships our radar has detected near the moon. The Earth appears to be under attack from an unknown foe." Claudia said.

"Lt Young," Capt. Gloval barks, "status report on ships systems."

"Reflex furnaces are at 96% power and climbing. They should be at full power as soon as the fighters have launched," reports Kim. "Apollo, Knight, Skull and Wolf squadrons will begin launching in twenty seconds and be airborne. Three minutes after that, Ghost, Rook and Bishop Squadrons will launch after that. All other available fighters will be in the air within fifteen minutes from now."

Capt. Gloval nodded; he was glad that each squadron's hangar bay had access to a launch area, each area only shared between two squadrons. It made getting fighters airborne much easier and quicker.

"What of Skull One?" the Captain asked. He had remembered seeing the Major's plane down near the Mayor's reception tent.

"Major Fokker reports he is taxiing to the runway closest to his hardstand," announces Lt. Hayes. "He should be in the air before the rest of Skull finishes launching."

"What is the status on these enemy fighters?" The captain asks Lt. Leeds.

"UHF band radar is currently tracking them. Lima band radar should be getting contacts from the lead bandits in thirty seconds," Vanessa says. "I calculate that our fighter force will engage the invaders in the upper atmosphere."

Capt. Gloval takes a deep breath and makes a difficult decision.

"As soon as the fighters are sufficiently clear, launch the Macross," Capt. Gloval orders.

"Have the Hoplite units ready to go on deck after this ship is airborne. Order all fixed anti-aircraft positions to be manned. We may need them if there as many enemy fighters as Lt. Leeds believes." He adds before a phone rings.

"Communication from Engineering, Captain," Lt. Young says.

"Put it on speaker,"

"This is Dr. Lang. Are you sure this is necessary, Captain Gloval? We have not had a chance to test the engines under these conditions."

"I know we had planned a gentler test, Emil, but we have our orders. And unfortunately, I feel there will be an opportunity for testing the Energy Hammer weapon as well. Do not worry; I have full confidence in you and your staff."

"Then I will make sure the anti-gravity motors do not take off without the rest of the ship. The weaponry can wait until after we have lifted off. Lang out."

Capt. Gloval watches out the Bridge windows as the second wave of fighters begins launching. All seven squadrons were at full strength but they would still be outnumbered at least four to one.

"All squadrons are clear of the Macross, Captain," reports Lt. Porter, "and base security reports all personnel are clear from our launch zone. We are clear for lift off."

"Very well Lt. Young, engage the anti-gravity motors. Get us airborne."

"Aye, Captain."

A low frequency thrum begins coursing through the whole structure of the massive ship, gradually growing in power. After a minute, the ship shudders as it breaks free of the ground and begins slowly rising into the air. The Macross gains altitude at an ever increasing rate and within a minute it has risen ten thousand kilometers above the island that had been its home for a decade.

"Lt. Young, start powering up the Energy Hammer. Lt. Leeds, feed targeting information to Cmdr. Grant's station. We are going to thin out those cruisers I am hoping. Lt. Hayes, warn our fighters to stay out of the targeting trajectory." Gloval orders his crew.

A chorus of affirmations rings throughout the Bridge, each woman performing their duty with a smoothness and calmness usually only seen in veteran soldiers; Capt. Gloval feels a swell of pride for these young, untested officers under his command. He takes a moment to glance around the bridge and notices Pops Hunter still sitting in what would be a seat for a visiting Admiral. Pops gives a quick nod to his friend; he might be retired but he was still military. Focusing back on the task at hand, Capt. Gloval prepares mentally for the battle to come. His thoughts are interrupted by a status report from Lt. Young.

"The Energy Hammer is at full power, Captain."

"Very good Lieutenant; Cmdr. Grant, target the largest cluster of enemy ships and fire when ready."

"Aye, Captain," responds Claudia "preparing to fire on trajectory two-seven-two-point- eight mark six."

"All Fighters have been warned to clear that heading, Captain," says Lt. Hayes.

"Very good, Lt. Hayes; I wish us to fire as soon as all our fighters have cleared from that path."

"Aye, Captain."

"Message from Col. Emerson in the secondary Bridge," says Lt. Young.

Col. Edward Emerson was the Executive Officer of the Macross and the secondary Bridge has the main control systems for the anti-aircraft systems of the Macross.

"Emerson here; we're ready if any bogeys break through."

"Thank you, Edward. Let us hope it does not come to that, but it is good you have us prepared."

"We're not going down without a fight, that's for sure. Emerson out."

It was now the point all commanding officers dread, the calm before the battle is fully joined, the long wait before the inevitable.

"All fighters are now clear of the firing trajectory," said Lt. Hayes.

Henry Gloval takes a deep breath before speaking.

"Cmdr, Grant. Fire!"

It was difficult to imagine, but the Macross shuddered briefly as a gigantic globe of energy left the bow of the ship and hurtled towards the extraterrestrial interlopers. The battle had begun.  
-

(1) AAA stands for Anti-Aircraft Artillery.  
(2) GIB is short for "Guy In Back", pilot slang for whoever is in the second seat of a two-seater. The official name for the position is "Radar Intercept Officer" or RIO.

Next Chapter: "Trial by Fire"


	7. Trial by fire

Chapter 6: _Trial by Fire  
_

Major Fokker pushed the throttle controls to full afterburner before releasing the brakes. Skull One began rolling down the runway at ever increasing speed until finally, Roy could yank back the stick and get airborne, climbing nearly vertical to join up with the rest of Skull Squadron in defense of the Macross and Earth. As Major Fokker began the high-G climb, the violent change in direction woke Jason up. It took a few seconds to register that the plane he had fallen asleep in was now in the air.

"Aaahhh!" screamed Jason.

"What the…," said Roy. "Who the hell is back there?"

Ensign LaSalle was his assigned RIO, but he had been forced to take off without him. There shouldn't have been anyone else in the plane with him.

"Oh boy," Jason said, "can you let me out, please, Major? I'm sorry I fell asleep in here."

_Oh God, _thought Roy,_ It's that rude kid from the tour._

"Is everything okay, Major Fokker? I heard a scream on your channel." Lt. Hayes voice and face came on over the TACNET.

"Not exactly Lieutenant. It appears I have a stow-away. No time to turn around, so he's stuck here until the battle is over."

"Battle?" Jason said. "You mean someone's going to be shooting at us?"

"I'm afraid so, kid. You better get buckled up and put that helmet on. And please, whatever you do, don't touch the controls!"

"Is that a child you're flying with, Major?" asked Lt. Hayes.

"Wasn't my idea, Lieutenant; I'll try to keep the two of us in one piece; Fokker out."

Cutting the connection to flight control, Roy mutes his helmet mike before addressing the boy. _No sense in having this conversation broadcast to the Air Group._ It will not be an easy thing having a tyro as his GIB; Roy had to make sure this kid wasn't going to be a distraction or they wouldn't make it through this battle.

"Listen up kid…"

"My name is Jason."

"Fine, Jason. I wasn't kidding about not touching the controls. Not the pedals. Not the throttles. Not the control sticks. Got it?"

"Yes, Sir," Jason replied.

"Good. Now, do you see that big circular screen directly in front of you?"

"Yeah,"

"That's the display screen for the Valkyrie's radar. Any of our fighters will be a blue square on the screen while enemy fighters will show as red triangles. We are the dot in the center of the screen. Are you following me on this?"

"Yes."

"Pretend it's a video game. You need to let me know if any bogeys, the red triangles, get too close or get behind me, or else it's 'Game Over'. Can you do that?"

"Piece of cake, Major; I have mad skills for video games."

"Well, the game starts now," Roy said. He hoped he could keep the kid alive. More importantly, he hoped the kid wouldn't get the two of them killed.

+

**"Lord Breetai,"** Exedore said, **"sensors have picked up some unexpected energy readings from a remote area of this planet's largest ocean. They appear to match the signature of the missing battle fortress."**

**"Interesting,"** said Breetai. **"What do you make of that information, Vice Admiral? Is Zor's ship still intact or did the inhabitants of this pitiful mud ball merely strip the useful parts."**

**"Difficult to tell, my Lord; the area the readings are emanating from is rotating past the planet's horizon."**

**"Do you have enough evidence to hazard a guess?"**

**"If I had to speculate, based on the remoteness of the sector I detected the readings in, I would say the life forms of this world salvaged what remained of the battle fortress after it had crashed here."**  
**  
"Then the attack will continue,"** Breetai said.

Turning towards the data screens tracking all the ships in the fleet, Breetai can barely hide his disappointment. The intact fortress would have been the ultimate prize of conquest. There is still this planet to conquer, he thinks. Suddenly, the blaring of a warning alarm shatters Breetai's pensive mood.

**"Status report!"** Breetai barks.

**"My Lord!"** a soldier manning a sensor console replies, **"sensors have detected an Energy Hammer on course for our fleet."**

**"How is that possible?"** Breetai asked. **"The previous scouting reports made no mention of these Earthlings having such technology!"**

**"Can you trace where the shot came from?"** Exedore asks the soldier.

**"I believe so, Vice Admiral."** came a quick reply from the subordinate. **"It appears to have been launched from a position at the planet's horizon near…near the area where you detected the energy signature."**

Exedore and Breetai look at each other with a brief expression of shock. They are veterans of hundreds of campaigns though, so the surprise lasts but a moment. Exedore is the first to recover.

**"It appears, my Lord, that these Earthlings are more resourceful than we anticipated**."

**"Indeed, my friend. Broadcast a warning to the strike force and have them take evasive action!"**

_**And hope we received enough warning.**_ Breetai thought to himself.

+

"Capt. Gloval," said Lt. Porter, "that weapon we just launched had the same radar signature as the incoming missiles that impacted Beijing and Tokyo."

"An interesting observation, Lieutenant; It appears the former owners of our ship have finally come looking for it."

"The Energy Hammer projectile is past our fighters now," Lt. Hayes said. "Contact with enemy fighters in two minutes."

"Very good, Lt. Hayes," said Capt. Gloval. "Lt. Young, give me a status on our Energy Hammer system, please."

"Energy Hammer is at 35% and climbing, Captain. It seems to be charging slower than it did for the first shot."

"What about our Fold system? We may need some extra maneuverability if there are more ships near the moon than our radar has detected."

"The Fold system is at 98% energy, Captain. We will be able to fold, if necessary."

"Thank you Lt. Young. Lt Leeds, do you have any new information on those ships near the moon?"

"Negative, Captain and their numbers have not changed drastically. There are still about a dozen cruiser size ships within radar view near the rim of the moon's disk; however, I've started to pick up signal returns of smaller destroyer or frigate class ships mixed in with the cruisers."

"Captain," Cmdr. Grant broke in, "I'm picking up what could be communication signals between those ships and they seem to indicate there may be quite a few ships hiding on the far side of the moon."

"As I feared, we do not know their true numbers. What is the status of our close quarter weapons?"

"We have a full complement of Reflex anti-ship missiles, Captain," Cmdr Gant said. "All launchers are loaded and ready."

"All anti-aircraft laser turrets read as on-line, Captain," Lt. Young said, "with our main batteries manned and awaiting targeting orders."

"I am not wanting us to be close enough to need the main batteries," Capt. Gloval said.

_Boizhe moi, we are testing our luck today. _The captain thought to himself.

"Hold our course steady and watch for return fire."

Leading her Phantoms in formation, Miriya is shocked to hear the warning of an Energy Hammer shot inbound. _**Someone dares fire upon the might of the Zentraedi?**_ She scoffs in disbelief.

**"Tighten up the formation, my Phantoms. Break to heading delta Z delta Q to avoid this so-called attack by the Earthlings. We should be getting visual contact of the enemy's fighter force. Slice through them and make for the coordinates that Hammer shot came from; it had to have come from Zor's battle fortress!"**

On the other side of the Zentraedi formation, the pilots and commander of Wraith Squadron listen to Phantom Leader Parina's emotional commands. The pilot of an unusual white painted power suit sat amused as he listened to his counterpart's verbal gyrations. Khyron Krav was another of the few Zentraedi battle commanders to earn the right to customize his war craft. Besides the main coloring, Khyron's suit also had a grinning red skull painted on the back of the suit's helmet. The paint scheme was not its only customization either. His suit had thicker armor, better weapons and better counter measures than the average power suit; it was befitting his status of Warlord within the 2nd Fleet and leader of Dolza's personal guard whenever the Emperor was with the fleet.

**"I don't know how the little hothead hasn't gotten herself shot down in all these years,"** Khyron drawls lazily over a private channel to Wraith's second in command, Azonia Tur.

**"Indeed, my Lord. Her pathetic Phantoms reap the glory that should rightly belong to Wraith squadron."**

**"She has the favor of Breetai for now, but our time will come soon I think. Besides, she just might be correct about the Hammer coming from the missing battle fortress. These foolish Micronians might prove more entertaining than anyone would believe."**

**"I do believe you might also be correct my dear Khyron. I will alert the rest of Wraith squadron that we are to break through the Earthling's fighter screen as quickly as possible and make our way to claim Zor's battle fortress. That green haired wench won't get the glory today!"**

Khyron's maniacal laugh rings out through the comm. link as Azonia briefs the rest of Wraith squadron to the new battle plan.

+

"Wolf Squadron, tighten things up there. Don't drift into Skull's path," Major Jack Archer, call sign Wolf, said over the squadron's assigned channel.

"Formation is to remain on heading one nine six point eight mark eight. Macross has fired her Energy Hammer weapon and we don't need to be in their line of fire."

Each pilot in Wolf responds and flies a bit closer to their squadron mates in order to keep all planes in the massive fighter formation clear for action. Wolf and Skull squadrons are in the center, with Rook covering the top of the formation, Knight covering the bottom of the formation, Bishop covering the right flank, Apollo covering the left flank and Ghost following up in reserve. There was no ETA on when the Macross herself would be launching, although radio traffic led Archer to deduce the Macross was already airborne.

"Contact with the enemy in one minute Wolf Leader," said Major Isabelle Randal, call sign Red, the XO for Wolf squadron. "Make sure your missiles are armed boys."

"Hey Wolf, think these guys are ready?" Major Randal asks over a private channel between the officers, "half these kids were still in grade school when we were flying our first sorties."

"They'll be okay, Red, as long as they remember to stick with their wingmen or their leader," replied Major Archer.

"I'm just worried what happens when things degenerate into a hairball. That's when teams get split up and discipline breaks down."

"As long as they remember to cover each others' six then they'll survive," said Major Randal.

_I hope you'll always be one of the survivors, Jack, _she thought.

+

The civilians from the Mayor's reception had barely reached the survival shelter on the base when the door clanged shut, the sound almost like a jail cell closing. The people barely had time to register that sound when the whole facility began to shake, slowly at first but with more energy as time passed. The shaking was accompanied by a deep bass humming, a tone that was felt almost as much as it was heard. After three minutes, the whole shelter felt like it would collapse from the shaking, trapping the hundred or so people underground. Just before the sensation became unbearable, it ceased abruptly. Everyone could still hear the deep bass thrumming, but even that was beginning to fade away.

"I didn't see Jason anywhere in this shelter," Minmei said.

"There is still a chance he was taken to a different shelter by the authorities," Amanda said, "but we won't know for sure until the emergency is over."

"I suppose you're right, but I can't help worrying."

Being some of the last people into the shelter, the two women were still near the entranceway. The soldier guarding the door had his communication link set to the general channel and both Amanda and Minmei were hearing snippets of what appeared to be the flight control officer talking to Major Fokker. Minmei's eyes went wide with shock when she heard that a child had stowed away aboard the Major's plane.

"Oh dear God," Minmei whispered.

"But you do not know…," Amanda started.

"What other child was even on base today? It had to be Jason that snuck in that fighter!"

"That boy is a handful."

"And if he makes it out of this alive he is so grounded for life!" Minmei said. Her voice had a tone of ice and doom.

Studying the radar screen intently, Jason saw more and more red triangles appear on the top part of the display. He gulped hard and wished harder that he had never climbed into this cockpit.

"There's a lot of bogies in front of us, Major," Jason said. His voice quavered; he could not hide his nervousness.

"Don't worry, kid. I made it though the Unification Wars, I can get us through this little scrap."

Jason reflected on the Major's words, which calmed him a bit. He had to do his job correctly if the Major was going to get the both of them home.

"Hey, Rick!" shouted Ben, "Bet you I'll shoot down more bogeys than you do. Winner buys the beer!"

"You're on, Ben. I'm already feeling pretty thirsty."

"Knock it off, you two. Okay you guys," Major Fokker said over the Air Group channel.

"We need to get a good first lick in on the enemy fighters. Fire a salvo of missiles as soon as you have tone."

Almost as soon as he finished his instructions, the target lock tone came on in the cockpit of Skull One. Thumbing the select button, Roy fired off four of his missiles.

It's 'Go' time.

He makes a mental note that the rest of the air wing fired fractions of a second after he did.

"Let's get 'em!" Roy roared over the TACNET. He pushed his throttles to full afterburner and leapt towards the enemy armada, the whole Macross fighter force hot in his wake.

+

Focusing inwardly on how she was going to capture the battle fortress single-handed, Miriya is shocked into alertness by the warning tone blaring through her cockpit. Incoming missiles had locked onto her power suit.

**"Take evasive action and release countermeasures! Phantoms, These impudent wretches think they can fire on us? We shall show them the folly of their ways! Return fire!"**

Miriya dodges the missile that had been tracking her and fires a salvo back. She is acting out of instinct and reflex now. It will only be later, in reflection after the battle, where she will remember the enemy missiles had gained a targeting lock on her forces from outside the range of her own targeting radar. But now, in the heat of conflict, she is only focusing on her next kill. She does not notice the missile that had missed her impacted the suit immediately behind her or how many dozens of her Phantoms have disappeared in fiery blossoms of death. She does see many Zentraedi missiles streaking at the enemy in a blistering counter attack and allows herself a small smile.

**"They may have drawn first blood, but we shall draw last."** Miriya said to no one in particular.

+

The shot from the Macross makes contact with the Zentraedi fleet at the same time the fighters have begun exchanging fire. The Energy Hammer rips through the Zentraedi ships, more powerful than any ship of the 2nd Fleet, save Breetai's flagship, could generate. Every cruiser and destroyer not in the cover of Earth's moon is destroyed, rupturing from the initial resonance of the energy then vaporizing when the Hammer itself makes contact. By the time the Hammer had run out of targets and dissipated, nothing was left but a few stray pieces of twisted metal and the occasional corpse floating through space.

**"We have lost contact with the strike force, my Lord,"** Exedore reported. **"It appears all ships have been destroyed."**

**"Destroyed? There was no indication the Hammer of Zor's battle fortress was ever that powerful. That was more than ten percent of our fleet involved in the initial strike!"**

**"It is true that none of the records we have access to indicate the battle fortress was capable of this, but there have been rumors that much was hidden about the true capabilities of that ship. For all we know, we were just attacked with one of the weaker weapons now available to these Earthlings."**

**"That is a disturbing thought, Exedore. Yet I can't help believing that such a powerful weapon would require an incredible amount of energy. We have a window for counter attack while the enemy's Hammer is recharging."**

**"That is Quite a reasonable deduction, my Lord."**

**"That is ore than reasonable; Order cruiser division Om-tock to move out and attack! Bring down that battle fortress before it can get another shot off!"**

**"It shall be done, my Lord."**

+

The fighters were closing quickly and soon the dogfight was in full fury.

"Watch your left, Silver," Ensign Dixon said.

"Roger that, Titan," Ensign Sterling replied, "Fox two, missiles away."

"Second wave coming in folks," announced Ensign LaSalle.

"Thanks, Joker. Vermillion and I have them" Major Fokker said. He and Ensign Hunter both loosed a volley of missiles.

Explosions began to blossom within the defenders' formation as some of the fighters from the other squadrons took hits from enemy missiles. So far no one from Skull had gotten hit.

"There's one on your six Vox," Rick said.

"Got him, Vermillion," replied Ensign Kudo. He maneuvered and took the bandit out with a burst from his gun pod.

"Whoa, look at Max go!" said a surprised Ben.

Max had dove into the heart of the enemy fighter formation and blasted four on his first pass, all with gun pod shots, switched to Battloid to evade return fire, and blasted three more power suits with missiles. It was a combat clinic. It also drew the attention of the sole red painted power suit. Max had to work hard to dodge all the ordinance being fired by this bogey.

"Careful there, Silver. That one seems to be trying extra hard to get you."

"No problem, Skull. Just keep its playmates off my six," Max said.

"Titan, you and Vox keep the other bogeys honest. Vermillion, you're with me. Wolf Squadron has taken some losses. We need to provide back-up."

+

**"Sweep these insignificant creatures from my sight, my Phantoms! None shall stand in our way!"**

**"Phantom Leader,"** replied a subordinate, **"the Earthlings have damaged one quarter of our squadron's suits. Most of the damage seems to have been done by the blue colored ship at the front of their formation."**

**"Really? That is wonderful news. There may actually be an opponent worthy of my effort."**

Miriya searches the battle for the mysterious mecha, the clear leader of the Earth forces in her mind. Drawn to a series of explosions, she sees the warrior she is searching for, laying waste to her forces with a single pass.

**"I have you now! Enjoy your success, for it will not be lasting much longer."**

Letting several missiles fly and taking a few shots with her own gun pod, Miriya was confident this enemy ace would not be long for this world. Except this pilot dodged everything Miriya had thrown at him. Worse, he was returning fire in the midst of dodging her fire.

_**This pilot is truly a worthy opponent.**_ The creature even had her dodging his return fire.

**"Attention Phantom Squadron. No one is to fire on the blue mecha. That one is mine! Continue with your orders: break through to the battle fortress and capture it! I will join you when I have finished with this troublesome pest."**

+

**"My dear Khyron,"** said Azonia, **"it appears the Phantom Leader has run into a bit of stumbling block."**

**"I've been keeping tabs on Miriya over the Fleet channels. Her cursed squadron is actually being held up by these Earthlings. Now is our chance! We've almost broken through the resistance in our sector. My loyal Wraiths shall be the ones to capture the fortress!"**

**"My Lord Khyron,"] interrupts a junior officer, ["the Earthlings have shifted reinforcements into this sector, and one of the craft appears to be sporting your house livery."**

**"I am not in the mood for joking."**

**"See for yourself, my Lord. The craft approaches, heading Gamma Two Beta Two."**

Khyron scans the incoming craft on that heading and saw one painted almost pure white, with black and yellow trim. He flew into a rage when he saw white grinning skulls on the vertical stabilizers.

_**The audacity of this Earthling, mocking the sigil of House Krav!**_ Khyron knew he had to teach this brash enemy a lesson, but he also knew he could not ignore the main objective.

**"Azonia, Complete the breakthrough with my Wraiths! We must push on to the battle fortress! I will join you when I have finished punishing this arrogant Earthling."**

**"It will be done, my Lord," **replies Azonia.

+

"Major, it looks like we've got a bogey coming right for us," Jason said, "bearing…45 mark 45, range 1500 meters."

"Good eyes, kid. Two o'clock high, eh?" Roy said. "Hang on. I'm going to turn into him and line up a gun pod shot."

"I've got your six, Skull" Rick said.

"Roger that, Vermillion," Roy said, "try to pick off a few of this guy's wingmen if you can."

Roy sees Rick's plane scissor off to the left and launch missiles at the trailing enemy pilots. He doesn't have time to see if Rick scored any hits; he has to focus on his own attack.

"Hang on, kid, and keep an eye on that scope. We don't need any of this joker's buddies sneaking behind us."

"You got it, Major."

Roy takes aim and lets off a burst with the gun pod, then jinks right to avoid a stream of munitions coming from the enemy craft. Swerving back left, Roy takes another shot at the enemy, the tracers spitting from the gun pod. Unfortunately, his opponent is just as adept at dodging, so neither foe has scored a hit. They quickly flash past each other, and Roy switches to Battloid mode for an equally quick direction change.

"Did you see that, Major? It looked like a giant suit of armor! And it had a red skull painted on it too!"

"No time to worry about that. Hang on; I'm going to punch the thrusters hard after I launch a missile spread!"

Roy knew that staying in Battloid mode too long in this kind of dogfight made a pilot a sitting duck. Four missiles launched and Roy hit the afterburners as soon as he was back in Fighter mode. Roy knew why that battle armor looked so big: A large percentage of the original sections of the Macross were made for beings the size of the user of that armor. Some of the previous owners really were giants.

Chasing after the intruder, Roy saw that the opposing pilot had spun around and was letting off a missile salvo of his own. Whoever he was, he was no slouch. Roy was going to have his hands full. Roy released counter measures and jinked hard right and up, almost into an Immelman. The missiles went after the chaff, but Roy felt some impacts on his fighter anyway, most likely form the alien's own gun pod. Dang, it's like that guy anticipated which way I'd try to dodge.

"You okay back there?"

"Yeah, Major. What hit our wing?"

"I told you they'd be shooting back at us."

"Oh God. Cousin Minmei's going to kill me if I die up here."

"Don't sweat it, kid. I'm not ready to be space dust either. Hang on; I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

+

Heading straight towards the enemy fighter, Khyron was angered more when the interloper had the nerve to fire first.

**"So that's how he wants to play this,"** Khyron mused out loud. **"He'll soon find out he's not dealing with ordinary rabble."**

Dodging the initial burst of bullets from the Earthling in an almost nonchalant manner, Khyron returns fire with his own close-in weapons system, trying to anticipate where this pilot would dodge to. Then he swerves up, to get out of the line of any return fire. The enemy's tracers flash right through where he had been moments before. Before either foe could get off another burst, the two craft flashed past each other.

_**Well, well.**_ There appears to be two Earthlings in that craft.

Spinning around to line up another shot, Khyron gasps in surprise to see what looked like a power suit where the flying craft was moments ago; and the battle suit had launched a missile salvo. Activating his power suits counter measure systems, Khyron slides to the left and launches his own missile barrage. He then looks to see the enemy power suit change back into the fighter craft. Extraordinary, but it will not save you. Noticing a small twitch in the enemy's flight path, Khyron aims to where he believes his opponent will fly to in order to dodge his barrage, letting off a burst of his own tracers. He sees a few shells connect with the enemy craft, but they don't seem to have hit anything critical. Khyron was almost annoyed at not getting a quick kill, but he smiled as he began feeling the thrill of the hunt, slowly realizing this must be one of the Earthlings better pilots.

+

"Our fighters are taking a few casualties, Lt Hayes," said Lt. Porter, "but they are holding off the enemy fighter craft for now. Wolf squadron seems to have been the worst hit, but Bishop has lost several fighters as well."

"Thanks, Sammy. I'll order Ghost to plug the gap and see if any of Skull can shift over until Ghost can get there." said Lt. Hayes.

"Our Hammer shot appears to have vaporized all the enemy cruisers and destroyers, Captain," said Lt Leeds.

"Very good, Lt Leeds," said the Captain. "Keep that radar focused on the edge of the moon's disk. We need to know as soon as possible if any other enemy ships decide to pop out of hiding."

"Aye, Sir."

"Energy Hammer at 65% and climbing slowly, Captain," said Lt. Young, "but the Fold system is at full power."

"Hoplite squadrons One, Two, and Six are in position on our bow sectors. Squadrons Three, Four and Five are positioned aft. All Hoplites are ready in support of our fixed AAA positions," said Cmdr. Grant.

"Status of the main guns?" said Capt. Gloval, "I have a feeling we will be needing use of them."

"Main guns at full power and ready for ship to ship action," replied Claudia.

"Lt Hayes," yells Sammy, "enemy fighters have broken through and are heading straight for us."

"Attention all pilots," Lt. Hayes says calmly but strongly over the TACNET, "the Macross is being engaged by enemy fighter craft. All fighters disengage and return to base to join the defense."

"Cmdr Grant, are the main guns able to engage such small targets?" asked Capt Gloval.

"I think so, Captain; at least they can target the main body of the formation, I think."

"Captain Gloval, I'm detecting radar returns of another group of cruisers coming out from behind the moon," Vanessa said.

"Belay the order to target enemy fighters, Commander. Order all main guns to target the enemy cruisers and if they also hit a few enemy fighters, that's all the better."

"Aye, Captain," Claudia replies. On a channel to the gunnery crews, Claudia said, "Target enemy cruisers coming from behind the moon. Fire at will."

"Rook squadron," Lt Hayes said, "shift to heading two four three point three mark six. The Macross will be firing its main guns at enemy cruisers near the moon."

"Roger that," came the reply from Rook leader.

+

Pvt Romanov heard the announcement over the TACNET. Enemy fighters will be attacking the Macross itself. He was stationed in one of the aft sections with the rest of Squadron Three but he remained vigilant. He knew fighter craft would try a few passes down the length of the Macross; it's what he would do if he were a pilot. Half the squadron, including Alexei, was in Guardian mode for AAA support. The rest were in Battloid mode, ready to move and respond if any of the enemy craft tried to board the Macross.

"Three dash eight, what is your status," crackled over the TACNET, a query from the squadron leader.

"Status green, weapons hot," replied Alexei, "no targets on scope yet."

"Stay alert; it could get interesting real quick."

Scanning his targeting scope, Alexei waited for the chance to get in the fight, not realizing how quickly the fight was coming to him. He felt a low frequency shudder, as if the entire bulk of the Macross was shaking.

"Boizhe moi! What was that?" Alexei asked, not realizing his squadron channel was still open.

"The Macross' main batteries started firing. That's not good; it means enemy capital ships are in range," said Sgt Wilkins, the platoon leader.

"What else could go wrong," Alexei mutters to himself.

A fraction of a second after that thought, the targeting computer of Alexei's Hoplite begins beeping; fighters inbound to his position.

"Here they come," said Sgt Wilkins, "on heading seven eight point one mark five zero."

Alexei picks his target and waits until positive lock before squeezing the trigger and unleashing a hail of cannon shells, the paths of the tracer rounds lighting up the darkness of the upper atmosphere. The Hoplite's Guardian mode looked almost like the old 40mm Bofors AAA tubs you would see on WW II warships, except the Hoplite was carrying a pair of Gatling style 40mm cannon, greatly increasing the rate of fire. Alexei's first burst hit home and he saw the flash of an enemy fighter exploding. But that was only the lead ship of a small cloud of fighters; Alexei had mere seconds to retarget and fire another burst. The fixed AAA batteries of the Macross were also firing, throwing up an impressive wall of lead and tracers.

Even so, a few enemy fighters got through the defensive fire and began strafing the deck areas of the Macross. The enemy fighters were firing missiles as well as cannon, forcing the Hoplites to move or be destroyed. Alexei's warning system detected four missiles targeted on his position; he barely had time to switch to Battloid mode and leap out of the way. He successfully dodged the missiles but heard debris from the deck area where they struck pelted Alexei's Hoplite. Staying in a prone position, Alexei began firing with his GU-25 gun pod, the 75mm weapon that was the main gun in tank mode, laying down covering fire for his squadron mates that still needed to shift to better cover. There were already two smoldering Hoplite wrecks 100 meters from his current position.

Alexei was about to target another enemy craft when the Macross shook again, but it was a more violent shake than the ship's main guns firing. He turned his Battloid's head to scan amidships and saw gouts of debris spew from the superstructure. The Macross had taken a direct hit from an enemy capital ship, near the secondary bridge, and the enemy fighters were beginning to hit the same area, pressing a perceived advantage.

"Squadron Three, move out!" came an order over the TACNET. "We've been ordered to cover the port side near the main bridge. That last big blast took out auto control of that section's fixed AAA batteries."

The surviving Hoplites shifted to tank mode and sped towards the superstructure area amidships, all the pilots praying they wouldn't be too late.

+

Things were not good in the secondary bridge. One whole wall of control stations were on fire and sparking from electrical shorts, the operators killed instantly from the incoming hit or badly injured from the subsequent reaction of the control panel electronics. The controls for the port side of the ship were hopelessly ruined; there would be no fast repairs possible during the battle. The static of a message through the ship's intercom channels tried to cut through the confusion.

"Come in Secondary Bridge. Col. Emerson, please respond." came a female voice over the open line.

A marine captain limps over to a functioning comm. link to respond. "This is Capt. Lovette. Col. Emerson is down and appears badly injured. A lieutenant is trying to assess the Colonel's injuries. We're going to need damage control parties and medical teams up here. Port side AAA controls are totally gone and we have other injure besides Col. Emerson."

"Med teams and damage control are headed your way, Capt Lovette. Sit tight until they get there. Render whatever first aid is possible to the injured until the med teams arrive. Bridge out."

+

On the bridge, the junior officers hear a short string of Russian epithets. The situation was turning bad very quickly. It was terrible news that the ship's XO was one of the injured. The Macross was in a tight spot and Capt. Gloval was running out of options.

"Radar indicates the enemy cruisers are trying to maneuver into position for a cross fire, Captain," Vanessa said.

"Have the main batteries continue returning fire. Target the lead vessel of this new group of ships. What is Status on the Energy Hammer; Lt. Young!"

"Still only at 75% charge Captain, and holding. It's like the defensive systems are draining power away from the Hammer system."

"Is the Fold system still at full power?"

"Aye, Sir; All we need are coordinates to jump to."

"Claudia, take us back down towards Macross Island. We need some breathing room to make a fold. Order all Hoplites and Veritechs back to the ship. I don't want anyone left behind when we fold."

"Aye, Sir!" replied Cmdr. Grant.

"Attention all Veritechs and Hoplites," said Lt. Hayes, "Return to your respective hangar bays. The Macross will be attempting a fold in ten minutes. Flight Control out."

+

**"It appears your assessment of the battle fortress' Energy hammer was correct, Lord Breetai,"** Exedore said. **"The Om-tock cruiser force reports receiving only standard capital ship weapons fire and they appear to have gotten at least one direct hit on the fortress."**

**"Excellent, Vice Admiral,"** Breetai said. **"Move our own ship out into the battle. We will launch our own Energy Hammer at the battle fortress."**

**"Is that wise, my Lord?"  
**  
**"We do not have a choice, my friend. That ship is too dangerous to leave in the Earthlings' hands. Recall our fighter forces, Vice Admiral. It would be a waste to have them caught within the active range of our Hammer blow."**

**"'It shall be ordered, my Lord."**

**"Very good, Exedore; Fire the Energy hammer as soon as a targeting lock can be acquired.]**

+

"Hey," said Ben, "check it out, those bogeys are bugging out."

"That's a lucky break," Rick replied, "we just got a recall order. It looks like the Macross is going to use the fold system in a few minutes."

The various squadrons head for their landing ramps, down a few pilots but still an effective force. The orders were to do hot rearms and be ready to re-launch after the fold was complete. Some of the pilots wanted to stay outside and fly cover, but no one, including Dr. Lang, knew how far the active sphere of the Fold system extended out past the ship. The last thing any of the pilots wanted was to be left flying around Earth after the Macross jumped to the far side of the Moon.

+

**"The battle fortress seems to be descending back down to the planet's surface, my Lord,"** Exedore said.

**"Hmm, that is an unusual strategic move by this Earth commander. What is he up to?"**

**"I cannot speculate on that, my Lord, but I would not underestimate these Earthlings. They have already proven to be quite surprising."**

**"Indeed, Exedore. If we can force the battle fortress to land back on this pitiful mud ball, it just might be possible to disable it rather than destroy it."**

**"Fifteen seconds until Hammer launch,"** announces a soldier at a control panel,

**"Energy Hammer is at full power."**

**"Good,"** Breetai mutters. He makes a silent count in his head, and when he reaches fifteen, he utters a soft, calm word.

**"Fire."**

+

"Captain!" said Lt Porter, "I've begun receiving a signal from the direction of the enemy cruisers. Its signature is matching an Energy Hammer shot."

"How much longer until fighter recovery is complete?"

"Major Fokker says he and the last of the fighters should be back on board in about minute, Captain, a minute and a half tops," Lt. Hayes reports.

"Lt Porter, can you give an ETA on that enemy hammer shot?"

"If I've figured everything correctly, Captain," Sammy said, "that Hammer shot will impact in two minutes."

"I want the fold started as soon as the last fighter has wheels down, understand? If it were not Major Fokker bringing up the rear, I would say to start the fold now. Cmdr Grant, bring us as low to Macross Island as possible before we fold. I am hoping the proximity of land will confuse the enemy's sensors enough to mask our fold signature."

"What coordinates should I set our fold terminus to, Sir?"

"Set them to beyond the far side of the moon. Let's surprise them and take a few of them with us. I have no illusions of us being able to defeat a superior force, but we must give Earth's defenses as much of a chance as possible."

The bridge crew momentarily looks around at each other before each woman grimly sets her expression to one of determination. They would not go down without a fight. The seconds dragged by like hours, but soon a report came in from Major Fokker.

"I'm on the landing grid, bridge. Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Activate fold system now!" Capt. Gloval shouts.

"Thirty seconds until Hammer impact," shouts Lt. Porter.

A kaleidoscope effect begins to color the entire bridge as the fold bubble begins to form; however, the bubble expands to many times its normal diameter.

"Fold system overloading, Captain," said Lt. Young, "it appears to be siphoning energy from that incoming Hammer shot."

"Fifteen seconds until Hammer impact," announces Lt. Porter.

"Fold activation in five…four…three…two…activation!" said Cmdr Grant.

The bridge began to twist in on itself as the fold bubble began to move the ship to the terminating coordinates, but the overload forced the ship to overshoot the programmed coordinates by a significant margin. None of the crew would be able to calculate how far they had overshot until the fold was complete. Even worse, the overload caused the fold bubble to extend a full five kilometers out in all directions from the Macross, dragging everything, including the majority of Macross Island, into space with the ship. Almost as soon as the fold had started, everything in the bubble winked out of existence on Earth. Where they would reappear was anyone's guess.

+

**"Our Hammer shot has impacted, my Lord. No sign of the battle fortress remains."** reported Exedore.

**"It was a shame to have to destroy that ship, my friend, but we could not let it remain in the Earthlings' hands. There's no telling how many of Zor's secrets they had been able to tease out of the wreckage that had crashed on this mud ball."**

**"I suppose it was for the best, Lord Breetai. It will make the job of conquest easier, my Lord, since these Earthlings were counting on the battle fortress to be invincible."**

**"Thank you for the reminder, Vice Admiral. Have sensors scan for any more fighter activity and prepare our troops for landing and occupation duties. It will be a distinct honor to announce our victory to the Emperor."**

**"As you wish, my Lord."** Exedore said.

The conquest of the planet was always the primary objective. Analysis of the final sensor data of the Hammer impact could wait until the conquest was completed. Exedore thought there might have been an anomaly in the readings in the seconds before final impact, but there was no time now to be checking them over.

_**Maybe in a week or so I will have the leisure to review that data**__,_ thought Exedore.

A whole week before any Zentraedi would realize the Macross had not been destroyed.


	8. Wounded and Lost

Chapter 7: _Wounded and Lost_

The rainbow warping effect of the fold energies slowly subsided, leaving only the amber of the emergency lights on the bridge of the Macross. There was little noise, only the soft beeping of a few systems receiving back-up power. The overload of the fold system caused a large number of the crew, mostly those near the outer hull, to black out, including the entire compliment on the bridge. After a few moments, the officers began stirring and waking, low groans heard from random chairs and positions. The first person fully awake was Pops Hunter.

"Jesus, Henry. What the hell happened?" Pops asked.

Capt. Gloval puts his head in his hands and rubs his eyes before responding.

"I do not know my friend. This was not believed possible in any of the surviving data left by this vessel's original crew."

The Captain scans around the bridge to see how the rest of the crew was doing. They all seemed to be coming around and none appeared injured. He needed information now: Where were they and how damaged was the ship?

"Lt. Young, I need a status report on ship's systems and get a call through to Engineering. Lt. Leeds, start scanning the general area for landmarks or known stars; we need to get our bearings."

"Any guesses as to how far we jumped, Captain?" asked Cmdr Grant.

"I am not sure Claudia, but we are certainly nowhere near the Moon," Gloval replied.

"Ship's chronometer indicates we were in the fold for six minutes subjective time," Lt. Hayes said.

"Subjective time?" Pops asked. He couldn't mask his confusion.

"Yes, Mr. Hunter. Only six minutes of ship time have passed since we initiated the fold, but we currently have no way of knowing how much time has passed in real time."

"We have a better idea of how much real time has passed once we can figure out how far we folded, Frederick," said Captain Gloval.

"Captain," interrupted Kim, "Engineering said they should have the main power back momentarily."

As if cued, the lights on the bridge snapped back on. There were random papers strewn about the floor, but the room looked in good shape otherwise.

"Captain, I think I have our location pinpointed," said Vanessa, "we appear to have jumped all the way out near the orbit of Pluto, on more or less the heading originally entered."

"Thank you Lt. Leeds. So, correct direction but just a bit farther than planned. At least we are still alive and still in relatively one piece."

"Gravity sensors are picking up an object, Captain," said Sammy, "and Lima band radar confirms. There appears to be a large asteroid below us, Sir."

"Accessing ventral camera systems, Captain," Lt. Hayes said.

Lisa patched the video feed to the main view screen on the bridge and began panning and zooming one of the cameras until the object was centered in the frame. Cmdr Grant gasped when she recognized the object. The rest of the bridge officers were shocked into silence when they realized what Claudia had seen. It was no asteroid they were over; it was Macross Island, or at least a major hunk of it. Somehow it had gotten dragged along with the ship during the fold. Capt. Gloval's problems had increased exponentially. He now had whatever survivors were on the island, not just the crew of the Macross to worry about.

"Cmdr. Grant, attempt to make radio contact with any UN forces in the shelters. Gently appraise them of the situation if you receive any responses," said Capt Gloval.

* * *

Pvt. James McMillan and Medic Team A had had a tense few minutes. They had made it to the secondary bridge and James and another team member were bringing Col. Emerson down to sickbay when the Macross folded; unfortunately, they were also in a lift when the fold happened, and were now trapped by the temporary loss of power. Luckily for their patient, they did not lose consciousness like crew near the outer sections of the ship, but every second they continued to be delayed made the chances of saving the Colonel slimmer. They worked frantically trying to stabilize the vital signs of the senior officer under the dim emergency lighting of the lift car.

"Pulse is dropping," McMillan called out.

"He's going into shock," said Marsha Maxim, a civilian medic. "Push another bag of saline while I keep the pressure on this gash."

The second medic was putting as much weight as she dared on the large deep wound on the Colonel's leg. A chunk of console had slashed his femoral artery. There were also several smaller gashes throughout his chest from other pieces of shrapnel, all bleeding nearly as much as the Colonel's leg. He needed surgery soon to have any hope of living.

"That's the last bag. I hope Engineering gets the power back on soon," McMillan said.

"What the heck were all those weird colors about?" asked Marsha.

"If I had to guess, I'd say they used the Macross' fold drive."

"I really hope this doesn't happen every time they use the fold system."

"Who knows? From the scuttlebutt in the mess hall, the fold drive was one of the systems that were going to be tested in a couple of weeks, after the official launch," McMillan said.

As if answering a prayer, the regular lighting snapped on and the lift began moving. James stepped over and entered a code into the lift controls: Alpha-Two-Alpha, medical emergency. The lift sped up to its destination, Level E and Sickbay, moving uninterrupted to that deck.

* * *

Amanda slowly opened her eyes, not quite able to shake the dream-like sensation of floating. It took a moment for her to realize the sensation wasn't a dream; the rainbow colors she saw before passing out must not have been a dream either. Everyone in the shelter was floating, though it appeared most were still unconscious. It was difficult to tell in the dim red emergency lighting. She heard a gasp behind her.

"Oh my God, why aren't we on the ground?" a confused Minmei asked.

"I don't know," Amanda replied. "How close are you to a wall?"

"I think my feet could touch, but I don't see anything to grab onto."

The women heard a crackling on the radio of the soldier closest to them. It sounded like someone from the bridge was calling to check for survivors.

"Minmei, can you push off the wall towards that guard? We need to answer that page and let the Macross know we're still here in the shelter."

"I think so. It will take me a second or two to get lined up right."

"Don't push off too strong; you don't want to tackle the guard, only get to his radio."

"Got it. Okay, here I go."

Minmei pushed gently off the wall and slowly glided toward the still unconscious soldier, grabbing onto his arm when she got to him. Her momentum carried the pair to the end wall, but their speed and energy were slow enough that they stopped at the entrance door; there would be no rebound away. As she worked to get stable, Minmei heard the radio call repeated.

"This is the Macross. If there is anyone in the shelters that can hear this message, please respond."

Reaching around the soldier, Minmei grabs the receiver off his shoulder. The movement caused the two of them to drift away from the end wall, but she was able to answer the ship back.

"Hello? Hello! We're all still here!" she said, a frantic tone to her voice.

"Calm down ma'am," said the voice on the receiver. "Can you tell me which shelter you're in and how many of you are still alive?"

"It looks like this is shelter E-24," Minmei said, "and everyone is alive, I think, but a lot of people are still passed out, including the soldiers. Just about everyone from the Mayor's reception is in this shelter."

"We should be able to mount a rescue and have you out in a few hours," said the voice on the other end. "There should be enough food, water and air for several days, so all the people there will be okay until we can get you out."

"Do you know why we're all floating?" Minmei asked.

There was a noticeable pause by the other person before they answered Minmei's question.

"All we can tell you right now is that there's been a fold accident and you must not attempt to open the shelter until a rescue shuttle arrives. We will get to you as soon as we can. Macross out."

The two women looked at each other, hoping that the wait would be hours and not days.

* * *

"Jason, wake up."

Jason's eyes fluttered as he slowly made his way to wakefulness and he realized that was the Major's voice. Jason knew he would be caught hiding in the Major's plane eventually, but he hadn't thought he'd fallen asleep for so long.

"I'm sorry I snuck in your plane and fell asleep, Major," Jason said weakly, "but man, what a weird dream I had. We were flying in a space battle and there were rainbow lights everywhere."

"I hate to break it to you kid, but that was no dream. The rainbow lights were due to the fold system being activated."

"What?"

"Scout's honor. I want to thank you for giving me a hand out there, but it's time for you to exit the ride."

The shock of the Major's announcement woke Jason fully up and he took a moment to look around outside of the cockpit. They were clearly parked on the hangar deck; Jason remembered it from the beginning of the tour. It also looked like he wasn't the only person to get knocked out from the fold. He felt a nudge on his shoulder and turned to his left. The major was still waiting for him to climb out of the cockpit. Jason took off the co-pilot's helmet, a sheepish grin on his face, slowly stood up and swung a leg over the edge, feeling with his foot for the highest rung of the ladder. From there, it was a quick climb down.

"C'mon, kid, I'll take you to the pilot's ready room. You can sit there until we figure out what to do with you."

As the pair walked across the hangar area, Jason could see that maintenance people were starting to look over the planes, checking for battle damage or damage from the fold operation. He wasn't sure how he knew, but Jason definitely could sense that something had gone terribly wrong with the fold.

"Are we going to be okay, Major?"

"I don't know, kid. All I know is that we'll be starting to rescue the civilians from Macross Island soon and I don't need you with me in the Veritech for that mission."

Roy sees a worried look cross Jason's face. He realized the kid must have family still on Macross Island.

"Don't worry Jason. We'll get your family safe on board." Roy wasn't sure if that would reassure the kid, but he really didn't know what else to say.

* * *

James and Marsha wheeled the gurney with Col Emerson quickly through the doors of sickbay, adding to the commotion. There had been other wounded personnel from the battle, but the Colonel was by far the most severely wounded to come into sickbay so far.

"What do we have?" shouted Jean Grant, CMO of the Macross.

"Col Edward Emerson, a forty two year old male with multiple deep lacerations from shrapnel," Pvt. McMillan began reciting. "The right femoral artery has been nearly severed; unknown on the severity the chest wounds. He's bleeding out profusely. We gave him three bags of saline so far but his BP is still dropping and his pulse has been weak since we got him on the gurney."

"Get him hooked up in Exam Six and let's see if we can get him stabilized before surgery," said Dr. Grant.

Once in place, several orderlies help get the wounded officer from the gurney onto the exam bed. Nurses work quickly to hook the Colonel up to various monitors while a staff member at the entrance desk looks up Col Emerson's medical records.

"Blood is Type A negative!" calls out the staffer.

"I need BP eighty over fifty-three. Pulse is weak," said a nurse.

"Get two units of blood in him, stat!" said one of the ER doctors.

Suddenly, the erratic beeping of the heart monitor changes to a single flat tone.

"He's crashing!"

"Charge to two hundred joules," said Dr. Grant

"Clear!" she shouted after a few moments.

Col. Emerson's body jumped from the jolt, but the heart monitor was still registering flatline.

"Two fifty," said Jean. "Clear!"

The Colonel's body jumped again from the release of energy from the defibrillator paddles; this time the heart monitor restarted its regular pattern of beeps.

"He's back," said the ER nurse.

"Get him stable and then get him into the OR, stat!" said Dr. Grant. "I'm going to get scrubbed in."

Jean would do her best but it didn't look good. Against all hope, she was fairly sure Col. Emerson had significant internal injuries, but there was no way to tell how serious they were until she was able to open him up in the OR.

* * *

Damage reports were still coming in to the bridge. Except for the secondary bridge, most of the damage had been fairly light, a testament to blind luck and not being engaged with the enemy forces for a significant amount of time. Repair crews were already working on the control systems for the port side AAA batteries; the more minor damage could wait for now.

"Captain, we've gotten back reports from all the survival shelters on Macross Island," Cmdr Grant said. "It appears every shelter that got dragged along with the island remained intact during the fold operation."

"The whole population of Macross City is out there?" asked Sammy.

"Those poor people," Vanessa said.

"Don't worry Lieutenant," Capt Gloval said, "we will not leave them out there. Lt Hayes is working on plans for rescue, coordinating things between all the different mecha squadrons."

"We also have to prioritize the shelters that have injured people," said Lt Hayes, "because we have a limited number of shuttles. That is going to force us into working around the clock on the rescue operation."

"How large was the civilian population?" asked Pops Hunter.

"If they were all in shelters and all the shelters came with us during the fold, then there could be as many as eighty thousand people to rescue," said Capt. Gloval, "and we are currently crewed with almost sixteen thousand people ourselves."

"There don't seem to be any major injuries being reported in any of the shelters, Captain," said Cmdr Grant. "The few that have been reported sound like minor bumps and bruises."

"Do we have the specifications for those shelters in our database?" asked Capt Gloval. "Can you tell me how long their air, food, and emergency power will last?"

"Those shelters should be able to keep several hundred people alive for three or four days, Captain," replied Claudia, "but that was for back on Earth. I don't know how being transplanted to deep space, especially the extreme cold, will change the survival parameters."

"Then we must somehow try to rescue all the civilians within the next twenty four hours, everyone."

"Captain," asked Lisa," would it be possible to land back on what's left of Macross Island?"

"I suspect it would be possible," said Capt Gloval. "Why do you ask?"

"If we were to land, we would be able to use wheeled vehicles as well as aerial shuttles to move those people. It would significantly shorten the required rescue time."

"An excellent idea, Lt. Hayes! Lt. Porter, please do a thorough sensor sweep of the island remnants. I want to know if it is still solid enough to handle our weight if we land. Lt Young, I need you to get every available wheeled or tracked vehicle that is outfitted for use in hostile environments ready to assist in the rescue."

"Aye, Sir," both women responded.

_Now let us hope the rescue can be finished before those aliens realize we were not destroyed,_ thought Capt. Gloval.

* * *

Rick slowly opened his eyes and groaned. I hope that doesn't always happen when we fold. As one of the last planes to touch down, Ens. Hunter was still in the cockpit of his Veritech when the fold occurred. Checking his immediate area, it did not look like his plane had sustained damage from the fold energies. He punched the button to raise the cockpit and checked to see if the ladder had deployed. When it was fully extended and locked in place, Rick slowly climbed out. Reaching the deck, he took a deep breath and looked around the Skull hangar. A few toolboxes appeared to have spilled, but it didn't look like any big pieces of equipment had been knocked out of place.

"That was a little disorienting."

Rick turned to his left and saw Max walking toward the pilots' ready room.

"Did everyone wind up passing out?" Rick asked.

"It seems that way," Max replied. "At least you didn't wake up while the lights were still out."

"That was kinda freaky," said Ben, his voice coming from Rick's right.

"Anybody know what's going on?" asked LaSalle, walking a little behind Ben. "I don't hear any shooting now."

"We jumped too far," said Shin

"I don't know how you knew that, Shin," said Max, "but I think you're right. There's no other explanation for why we're not still in the middle of a battle."

"Never mind that," said LaSalle, "can you believe the Major had a kid riding GIB up there?"

"You better watch out, Ed," Ben said, "you might have just lost your job."

"Har dee har-har, Dixon; I'm surprised they took the training wheels off your Veritech," LaSalle said.

"Knock it off, you clowns," yelled Major Fokker from the door of the ready room. "Get in here! I need to brief you guys on a rescue mission."

"Who the heck needs rescuing?" asked Rick.

"The civilians of Macross," Roy said. "Most of the island got sucked up with us in the fold bubble. We're in deep space now, so there's no way they could just walk over to the ship."

Shin let out a low whistle. "Big job ahead"

"So where do us Veritech pilots fit in?" asked Ben.

"They're planning on landing this thing back in the remnants of Macross Island," Roy said. "If they can land, or maybe even if they can't, we'll be down there supporting the rescue operations. Most likely that means down on the ground in Battloid mode, guarding transports and maybe helping to move debris."

"Guarding? That doesn't sound too optimistic," said LaSalle.

"We have to be on our toes gentlemen. We have no idea when those aliens are going to follow us out here. They might think we're destroyed, but the Captain has a feeling that the aliens will figure out eventually that we folded before that Hammer shot hit us."

"So how long before this rescue starts?" asked Max.

"I haven't gotten any word from the bridge yet, but I would guess two hours tops, "Roy said.

"There's a lot of civilians to get on board, so get a bit of rest"

"What about me Major?" asked Jason.

"I'll call up to the bridge, kid. If they don't have any ideas then you're stuck here until we can get your family on board."

"I know," Jason said. "I'll just be in the way during the rescue." Jason tried to mimic Major Fokker's voice.

Roy turned and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. He couldn't help thinking this kid had made it through more action than a lot of guys he had flown with, even going back to the Global War.

"Listen, Jason, I couldn't have gotten us back here in one piece without your help. You're a pretty brave kid, but everyone that is going on the rescue mission has had months of training in the Veritechs. The Captain needs his most experienced people out there to make sure we get everyone safe and sound and onto the Macross."

"Yeah. I just want to help find my cousin."

Jason's voice held an equal touch of sadness and weariness. Roy squeezed the youngster's shoulder before heading over to his office. He had the odd feeling that this wouldn't be the only time he'd see Jason in a Veritech.

* * *

Jean suppressed a slight wave of nausea while she finished prepping for surgery. She was used to it, it being a normal experience for women in her condition, but she hated that it always hit her at the worst possible time. After donning gloves, mask, and gown with the aid of a nurse, Dr Grant strode into the OR as the anesthetist finished getting Col Emerson sedated.

"OK, people, first things first. Let's get that femoral artery taken care of. Clamp"

A nurse slapped the instrument into Jean's gloved hand and the hard work started. The wound looked jagged, but there did not seem to be any traces of the shrapnel that has caused the damage.

"Suture."

Another OR nurse placed a tray with needles and thread within Jena's field of vision. Selecting a curved needle, she began the task of re-attaching the ends of the large blood vessel, the first of many steps in the attempt to save the Colonel's life. After almost fifteen minutes, Jean slowly released the pressure from the clamp. Blood began pulsing through the repaired artery and, thank Hippocrates, there was no blood leaking from the sutured area. One miracle down, four to go, thought Jean. Dr. Lewis, a vascular specialist, stepped in to reconnect the smaller vessels that had gotten severed. Dr. Grant thought there wasn't any nerve damage in the area, so the surgical team should be able to close up that leg wound once the vascular surgeon was done.

"What's the status of those chest wounds?" Jean asked.

"The EMTs didn't see any shrapnel in the wounds when they were trying to stop the bleeding," said Dr. Clark, another member of the surgical team, "but they had no way to assess how deep any of these wounds really was. If a piece of shrapnel went in deep, they might have missed it."

"Okay, Clark. You take the left side and I'll poke around on the right." Jean said.

The two doctors carefully examined each wound in the Colonel's chest area, checking for small pieces of debris and suturing up each cleaned gash. All seemed to be going well, until the OR nurse assisting the anesthetist mentioned the patient was going through a lot of blood; she was already hooking up the fourth unit of A negative since the surgery had started. Then all hell broke loose as the heart monitor dropped to a monotone again.

"Dang it, he's crashing again," grumbled Jean.

"Again?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Yeah, he coded in the ER when he first got here," Jean said.

"Two hundred fifty joules. Charging," announced an OR nurse.

Grabbing the paddles, Dr Grant waiting for the tone indicating a full charge in the capacitor then told everyone "Clear!" before pulling the trigger. Col. Emerson's body jumped with the jolt, but his heart refused to restart.

"Give me three hundred joules," Jean commanded.

Another short wait while the whining tone of the defibrillator rose before Jean could once again pull the triggers on the paddles.

"Clear!"

Another jounce of the body, but still no sinus rhythm;

_Think Grant, think!_

"Give me a chest tray," Jean said, "he's got to have internal bleeding."

Selecting a scalpel, Jean starts cutting between a pair of ribs near the largest chest wound. As she gets through the cartilage between the ribs and into the chest cavity itself, a small river of blood begins flowing out of the incision.

"Damn, there's a bleeder in there. Get me a rib spreader!"

Slowly working the incision area wider, Jean tries to find the damage. She realizes she might need to perform compressions directly on the Colonel's heart if they couldn't find the bleeder quickly.

"I need suction!"

A nurse sucks up the blood in the immediate area of the incision. Jean can see there's damage to the patient's left lung, but not enough to cause the amount of bleeding the doctors were dealing with. Moving the lung to the side, Jean gets ready to start direct compressions of the heart. She reaches to give the first squeeze then stops in horror; a piece of shrapnel is sitting right in the Colonel's heart. The right atrium is badly cut and his aorta was practically shredded.

"Dear Lord, we need to get this man on by-pass," she said.

"Holy Cow, Jean," Clark said. "I don't think we have a big enough graft to fix that aorta and it's too damaged to just suture."

"Dang! There's no way to tell if the atrial valve is damaged until we get the chunk of metal out of the way." Lewis spit out.

"I hate to say it Jean, but we were too late," Clark said. "Looking at all the damage to his heart, it's a miracle he didn't bleed out before the medics got to the secondary bridge."

Jean lowered her head and gritted her teeth. She hated losing a patient, but this was one of those times when even the most talented surgeon had to step back and admit the damage was beyond their art. She closed her eyes and after a quick prayer, raised her head.

"I'm calling it. Time of death, 02:30 hours, 22 June, 2029," she said solemnly.

* * *

"It's definitely feasible, Captain," Lt Hayes said. "Based on the data our instruments have gathered, the remnants of the island are easily stable enough for us to land and pick up the survivors."

"Good, Lieutenant. Cmdr Grant, begin descent and have the rescue crews go out as soon as we touch down."

"Yes, Captain."

"Captain Gloval, I hate to interrupt, but I have a communication from Sickbay. Dr. Grant wants to talk to you," Lt Young said. "She says it's urgent."

"Patch it through to my duty station."

"Aye, Sir."

He picks up the phone next to his command chair, curious why she might be calling the bridge directly.

"This is Gloval," he says into the receiver.

The bridge crew can't hear what Dr. Grant is saying, but they can see a grim expression color the Captain's face. The Captain's end of the conversation is also muted and indistinct. After a few minutes, the conversation is over. Gloval hangs up the receiver and rubs his eyes.

"That wasn't good news, was it?" Claudia asked the Captain.

"Dr. Grant regretfully informed me that Col. Emerson died in surgery."

"Edward is gone?" asked Pops. "I never got a chance to say 'Hello' to him before the attack. We served together in the Middle East back in the day. Rolf is gonna be devastated when he hears about his brother."

"That makes fifteen," Lt Hayes said softly.

_Fifteen deaths, indeed,_ thought Captain Gloval. Nine Veritech pilots, five Hoplite tankers and now the ship's XO, all lost in that short, savage battle. And they were still counting the number of wounded.

"Who's going to replace the Colonel?" asked Sammie.

"I do not know, Lt. Porter, but our first priority is to rescue the civilians down there," Capt. Gloval said. He could not keep a tinge of sadness out of his tone.

"Aye, aye, Sir," snapped Cmdr Grant, in a tone to get everyone's minds back on the task at hand. "We'll be landing in approx. 23 minutes. All rescue vehicles will be ready for launch in 15 minutes."

"Order launch as soon as the dust settles, Commander; We are on a tight schedule."

"Aye, Captain!"

* * *

More of the people in the shelter had returned to consciousness, and almost all of them were having just as much trouble with floating around as Amanda and Minmei had earlier. Most everyone had made their way to the back of the shelter, primarily because the food stocks were there but also because it was starting to get extremely cold next to the main entrance.

"What's taking them so long to get us?" complained one older woman.

"Geez, Lois, it's only been a couple of hours since they called the shelter," said an older man, obviously her husband. "Isn't that right, kid?" He was looking toward Minmei.

"Please, everyone, it hasn't been that long since we had contact with the bridge and it sounded like we weren't the only shelter they have to rescue," Minmei said.

"That is correct everyone," said Amanda. "If there are injured people in any of the other shelters the Captain will have no choice but to rescue those people first in order to get them to the ship's Sickbay."

"Listen, folks," said one of the military guards stationed in the shelter, "we have plenty of food, water and air for a couple of days at least, so please stay calm. I'm sure the men and women of the Macross are doing their best to get us out of here."

The murmurs settled down after that and the people went back to clinging to whatever spot they could find. No one really wanted to be floating around the shelter. After a few minutes, Amanda and Minmei began feeling a vibration running through the whole shelter, a thrumming that grew louder with each passing second. The residents of the shelter began to panic, fearing that their only hope for survival was now breaking apart. Amanda heard the crackle of the guard's radio and although she couldn't hear what he said she could clearly see his lips moving in conversation.

"Everyone needs to calm down!" the guard shouted after he had stopped talking into the radio receiver. "We're going to be okay! That noise is the Macross landing!"

Nobody really seemed reassured by that statement; the noise and vibrations were still increasing. Suddenly there was a gigantic thump and the vibrations stopped. The Macross had touched down on the island.

"Okay people, I've been told that they crew of the Macross will need to check for and clear away any debris that might be blocking the entrance to our shelter. Once the doorway is clear they will need a few minutes to connect a transfer umbilical to get us moved to the transport vehicle."

"Why do they need an umbilical to get us?" a woman asked the guard.

"I wasn't told not to say this and I don't want to alarm you, but when the Macross used its fold drive there was an accident. The ship wound up being flung into deep space."

"Did they fold back to get us then?" a different woman asked.

"No Ma'am. Unfortunately, as part of the accident, almost the whole of Macross Island was dragged along into deep space with the ship." The guard had an apprehensive look on his face, as if he regretted telling the civilians that news.

The civilians in the sheltered were too shocked from that statement to do anything but hang on to the walls in silence.

* * *

"Captain, I have a communication from Dr. Lang in Engineering," Lt Young said.

"Put him on speaker, Lieutenant," the captain quietly told his junior officer. With a louder voice, he addressed the scientist down in Engineering. "Emil, my friend; I hope you have some good news for me."

"Unfortunately, Henry, I have little good news," Dr. Lang said with his thick German accent. "The fold drive is totally shorted out. It is nothing more than a heap of shit and melted metal."

"Can you not repair it?" the Captain asked.

"Maybe if we were still on Earth and we were on the island or in some sort of dry dock. There is nothing I can do to fix it while we are out here cruising past Pluto; it is just too damaged."

"Then it will be a long ride home my friend. Are the sub-light drive engines functional?"

"They are indeed, Henry. Right now it only seems as if the fold drive was affected but my technicians have not gone over every system yet."

"Do what you can, Emil. The most important thing is that we are all alive. Gloval out."

Capt. Gloval motioned for Lt. Young to close the communication channel. He sat with a weary look in the command chair, rubbing his eyes for what seemed the hundredth time.

"Is there no good news from any area?" the Captain asked. It was almost a rhetorical question.

"I can report that the rescue of the civilians has started and is actually going faster than we anticipated," Cmdr Grant said.

"That is good news. Once everyone is safe on the ship, I believe we should take the time and collect all the supplies out of each shelter. If we cannot fold back to Earth then we will need all the resources that we can salvage. Make sure to inform the rescue crews to not leave the shelters open to the vacuum of space."

"Right away, Captain," Claudia responded.

Looking around at his bridge crew, Capt. Gloval realizes there are many difficult decisions he will have to make in the near future, choices that will affect the survival of thousands. His eyes came to rest on Pops Hunter and an idea formed, an idea born of desperation.

"Frederick, my friend," Gloval started, "I do not ask this lightly, especially since you have officially retired, but I need you to come back into the service. I would like you to take over as Executive Officer of the Macross for the duration of this crisis."

"Are you serious, Henry? What the heck do I know about ships? I flew in the service, remember?"

"I am very serious my friend. As you could tell from my discussion with Dr. Lang, our situation is quite grave."

"That's a heck of a surprise to spring on me, Henry. Can I have a little time to think it over?"

"Of course, my friend; you would be reinstated as a full Colonel, if that will help sweeten the pot, so to speak."

"You really are desperate, aren't you? Well, in that case, I can't refuse your request. You have yourself a new XO, Captain." Pops stands straight and gives a crisp salute to the Captain.

"Thank you my friend. You can see the quartermaster for a uniform once I make the commission official in the ship's log."

_If only the rest of my decisions will be resolved so easily,_ thought the Captain.

To be continued…


	9. The Long Way Home

Chapter 8: The Long Way Home.

It seemed an optical illusion. The two Valkyries, working in Battloid mode, were standing steadily near the door to another shelter. The lack of gravity should have made that impossible but the mass of the vehicles clearly was enough to keep them in place, for the moment at least. These two futuristic knights were working to attach an umbilical tube from one of the rescue shuttles to the door of the shelter. They needed to do this correctly the first time; failure meant decompression and death for the civilians and shuttle crew as precious air would explosively vent if the seal wasn't perfect.

"All the locking bolts are fastened on my side, Skull," said Ensign Hunter.

"Roger that, Vermillion," said Major Fokker, "all bolts green on my side. Shuttle Two, time to give it a pressure test."

"Roger that, Major," said the shuttle pilot. "All sensors are reading one atmosphere of pressure and holding. No leaks detected, Sir."

"Then let's go get 'em," Roy said cheerfully.

As had been done at several shelters already, a crewmember from the shuttle went to the door and contacted the military guards in the shelter. While there was a way to open the door from the outside, things went smoother if the protocols were initiated from within. Most of the shelters were designated for civilian use but all were built to military specifications with full survivability. They would be able to withstand attack from nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons and keep the occupants safe for up to a month in those environments. The only way the civilians wouldn't have survived is if the structure of the shelter had ruptured. Of the ones that had been transported with the remnants of the island, all had maintained their seals.

"The first ones are coming through," announced the shuttle pilot.

"Roger that Shuttle Two," said the guard with the radio.

The people in shelter E-24 had gone hours without hearing anything, and then within the past thirty minutes they had been hearing banging and other noises coming from the end the door was at.

"What does that mean?" asked Minmei.

"I do not know, my friend, but it looks like the guard is going to make an announcement," Amanda said.

"Attention everyone!" the guard began. "The noises you have been hearing were the rescue crews setting up the umbilical to transfer us to a shuttle. I will be opening the door as soon as the shuttle crew gives the go ahead."

"We're just supposed to fly across?" asked one of the older adults.

"There will be a guide rope with hand holds. You'll be able to pull yourself through the umbilical to the shuttle. It's a cargo shuttle, so there will be room for everyone," the guard said.

Another squawk from the radio and the guard moves to the control panel, entering the command string that will open the shelter. The interlocks release with a loud clunk, the seal breaks with a hiss, and the door finally swings open, pivoting slowly into the chamber. Amanda could see the guide rope and lights every few feet along the ribbing. There did not seem to be any viewports along the length, but it was just as well; Amanda didn't think her or any of the other civilians really wanted to see exactly where they had ended up; At least not until they had something more solid than wire and Mylar under their feet.

"One at a time now people," said the shuttle crewperson that was in the tube. "There's no rush, so take your time pulling yourself to the shuttle's airlock. Is there anyone that will need assistance making it through the umbilical?"

The crowd begins to queue up and slowly escape what could have been their tomb. Collectively, they were nervous about making their way to the shuttle; it was still less nerve wracking than the thought of being trapped in the windowless tube of the shelter.

* * *

Back in Earth orbit, a solitary figure with long green hair stormed through the corridors of Breetai's flagship. It was bad enough that the cruiser her squadron had been stationed on was now a few scattered atoms, since the commander of that vessel was stupid enough to allow it to be destroyed by these pitiful Earthlings, but they had the gall to force this final indignity on her and her Phantoms: On return to the fleet, they were forced to land on the flagship, a ship crewed entirely by males. Even worse, there was no shrine to Zor on this ship that she had been able to find as yet. She had tried meditating in her hastily assigned quarters, but the calmness and focus she sought eluded her there. Miriya was not pleased and woe to anyone who chose to intrude upon her thoughts.

**"Excuse me Phantom leader…"** said a young male NCO. He did not get to finish.

**"Why do you waste the air around me, you filthy, useless male?"** hissed Miriya.

The question may have been rhetorical, but the soldier had no way to answer. He was now pinned to the wall by his neck and having difficulty breathing. Miriya had completed the move in a blinding flash; the soldier had no chance to block her attack. With much effort, Miriya released her grip on the unfortunate soul, letting him crumple to ground. After a few moments, he recovered enough to deliver his message.

**"You are…*cough*…you are requested on the bridge…*cough*… by order of Lord Breetai," **said the young soldier.

Miriya gave him a small sliver of grudging respect. Most Zentraedi would not have remained so calm in the face of her onslaught.

**"You may tell our glorious Admiral that I will comply,"** said Miriya. **"If he does not hear my reply before I reach the bridge, then I will be forced to continue our…discussion." **

**"As you command, Phantom Leader,"** the NCO said. He saluted and began a double time trot back to the bridge to convey Miriya's answer.

_**How can anything get worse? **_Miriya asked herself silently. That damnable blue enemy mecha coming back from the dead would be worse. Or was it worse that he would never come back? The battle between herself and the enemy ace was at best inconclusive and a draw in the worst sense. It gave Miriya a slight chill of excitement to think there might truly be one pilot in the universe that was a worthy opponent for her and a deeper chill of dread to think this pilot might have been skilled enough to defeat her. Miriya was so caught up in her anger and frustration about quartering on a male dominated battle wagon that she failed to notice how much the thought of potentially losing was contributing to her agitation.

Her day would not be getting better.

* * *

Breetai slowly paced the width of his command pod, stopping to glance at all the technicians and sensor operators on the lower deck of the bridge area. _**Were the defenses of this planet truly this pathetic?**_ he thought. After Zor's battle fortress had been destroyed there were hardly any more Earth forces to challenge the mighty Zentraedi fleet. Had these puny Earthlings, all Micronians if the battle reports were to be believed, bet their entire defensive strategy on the hull that was now many thousands of randomly scattered atoms? As inconceivable as it was, they may have not thought to keep any reserves back, feeling an all out counterattack was the only way to drive away the force threatening their world.

**"You seem troubled, my Lord,"** Exedore said.

**"It makes no sense, my friend,"** Breetai replied. **"Where are the rest of the defenses of these Earthlings? Why have they not attempted to engage us further, beyond the occasional small skirmish? They apparently have no other capital ships but these beings certainly did not lack the will to fight. What are they up to?"**

**"As we could see from their use of the lost battle fortress, the inhabitants of this planet are quite resourceful and are full of surprises. It would not be unreasonable to assume that they are following a strategic imperative of their own choosing."**

**"Your wise council confirms what I have already suspected, Exedore. That is why I have summoned Flight Leader Parina to the bridge."**

**"The Phantom Leader, my Lord? Is it wise to have such a volatile female so close to your person?"**

**"I am not repulsed by that half of our race, my friend. I have observed female Zentraedi fight with a ferocity equal to that of our most vaunted males, and young Parina is the best female warrior we have. She is possibly the best female warrior in the whole history of the Zentraedi. For the mission I have in mind, I wish the best available to perform it."**

**"Pardon the interruption, my Lords, but Flight Leader Parina is on her way."** It was the messenger Breetai had sent to find her.

**"You have performed your duty,"** Breetai said to the young male. **"You are dismissed."**

Without another word, the NCO salutes and exits the command pod. Breetai resumed his pacing, more sure than ever that the next assignment for Phantom Squadron would be highly important. Breetai needed information on the remaining forces of these Earthlings and those forces needed to be crushed.

**"You have summoned me, Lord Breetai?" **It was a female voice and it rang out with barely concealed anger.

Turning towards the voice, Breetai observed this female Flight Leader. It was the first chance he had for a face to face look since most interaction between male and female Zentraedi took place over a communications screen. As he studied the young officer, Breetai noticed her hair was green, a rare color even by Zentraedi norms. He saw fire in her eyes, some of it anger, the rest he surmised was the passion for battle. The tilt of her chin and outline of her jaw lent a fierce pride to her expression. Though not an exact clone, this young pilot looked very similar to another young female Zentraedi Breetai had known over twenty solar cycles ago. _**This one even appears the same age as my Komilia, **_Breetai thought. But Komilia had been dead for these twenty plus long cycles, destroyed, along with what she carried, as a punishment for a crime he had somehow escaped retribution for. Shaking his head, Breetai returns to the task at hand, pushing the memories back to their corner of his mind.

**"I have a special mission for you, Phantom Leader," **Breetai began. **"I wish your squadron to go planetside and discover what, if any, defenses remain. You are ordered to destroy any you discover. You will also map the location of any abandoned military facilities, so our occupying troops will have targets when they land. You will also gather whatever intelligence you can directly concerning the inhabitants of this planet. I mean to have a swift victory and I will use whatever means I must to get it!"  
**  
**"Understood, my Lord,"** Parina's reply came through clenched teeth.

**"I realize you may think this mission is beneath you and your squadron, Flight Leader, but I fully expect these Earthlings to fling all their remaining forces at you when you touch down on the surface. The Phantoms are the only unit I would expect to survive such an attack and return victorious. Your mission is more important than you could possibly know, Flight Leader Parina, and it was not a request. As supreme commander of this force, my orders will be followed, regardless of your feelings about those orders."**

**"Yes, my Lord. May I have your leave, so I may go and prepare my squadron?" ** Miriya's voice was still stiffly formal, but a good portion of her anger had disappeared from it. At Breetai's nod, she saluted and went to gather her Phantoms to the hangar bay.

As he watches the door close behind the young woman, Breetai is sure he made the correct decision regarding her.

**"She is correct to believe other, lesser squadrons could handle this mission, Lord Breetai,"** Exedore said.

**"But other squadron leaders are not trying to decimate the male population of this ship single handedly,"** Breetai said.

**"This mission will do her good. It will give her a chance to focus her rage on those who deserve it rather than on my crew." **

* * *

It was an interesting meeting, to say the least. This was the first time Miriya had seen the great Breetai so closely. Even among the females, he was a warrior of great reputation. But it was unnerving observing him, almost as if she were looking at what her face would be as a male. Not quite like looking into a mirror, she thought, but there were unmistakable similarities between his facial features and hers, like his jaw line and cheekbones. Though a Zentraedi never learned what sources of genetic material were used during their creation in the biogeneration chambers, it was not an unpleasant thought to hope that Breetai himself might have been source of one half of Miriya's own material. Maybe it was too much to hope for.

_** Enough with silly, useless thoughts, **_Miriya thought silently. There was much to get prepared for her new mission.

* * *

Amanda and Minmei huddled with the rest of the people from shelter E-24 in the rescue shuttle. The last of them had come on board and the pilots were beginning the detachment procedure for the umbilical. In a few moments the shuttle would lift off and bring everyone to the Macross.

"I hope Jason made it through the battle okay," Minmei said for what seemed the one hundredth time.

"I am positive he did," Amanda said, trying to calm her friend down. "He was flying in Major Fokker's plane, no? Well, I recognized the Major's voice on the radio when they were setting up that rescue tube. If the major is still alive, then Jason is too."

"Then I hope he'll be easy to find when we get on board," Minmei said.

As Minmei finishes talking, they feel a slight shudder as the shuttle engines power up. They were now taking off and leaving the remnants of the island that had been their home, going towards an uncertain future on the Macross.

"Status report, please," Capt. Gloval said to the bridge crew.

"No activity anywhere in this sector of space, Captain," said Lt. Leeds.

"All ships systems are up and functioning except the fold drive and the main gun," Lt Young said. "Dr. Lang is investigating the problems with the weapons system and will have a full report in a few hours. He is checking to see if the destruction of the fold drive has also affected the main gun."

"All rescue flight operations proceeding nicely Captain," reported Cmdr Grant.

"Veritech teams are moving to the last of the shelters, Captain," Lt Porter said.

"Very good; Lt. Young, please have the senior staff meet me in the conference room on this deck in fifteen minutes. We will have a few decisions to make once the civilians have all been brought on the Macross."

"Aye, Sir."

Capt. Gloval rises from his command chair and slowly walks off the bridge and into the hall, moving to the room two doors down on the opposite side of the corridor. He enters the small conference room and goes to the seat farthest from the door. Fiddling with his pipe, a private vice but one not allowed on the bridge, Gloval reviews his options for further action. He will solicit input from the department heads but the decision is ultimately his and his decision will affect many tens of thousands of people. After a few moments, the door slides open, forcing the Captain to focus on the matter at hand. It was Col. Hunter, newly clad in an officer's uniform, tugging at his sleeves and looking a little uncomfortable.

"What is the problem, Frederick?" asks Gloval. "You look very good in that."

"It fits fine, Henry. I guess I'm just showing a few nerves. This whole situation is just something I wouldn't have expected when I arrived on Macross Island a few days ago."

"Yes, we are all in a bit of shock, my friend, but I believe there is something else bothering you."

"Why make me XO, Henry? Why drag me out of retirement when there are other officers here who have more knowledge of this ship?"

"But none of the others has your experience with aerial combat, Frederick. They are all ground commanders, brilliant when in their element, but with no experience either flying or directing fighter forces. If you haven't noticed, there will be precious few chances for ground force action on our trip home, unless as part of the ship's defenses."

"Thank you for being honest with me, Henry. I will do my utmost to make sure we all get out of this with at least most of our skins intact."

At that point, the door slid open again and the rest of the senior officers filed in. First to arrive was Col. Victor Maistroff, commander of the Space Marine detachment followed closely by Lt Col. David French, in charge of the Hoplite units on the Macross. Soon after Dr. Jean Grant, the ship's CMO, and Dr. Emil Lang, in charge of Engineering, arrived. As soon as Major Fokker arrived, the meeting could start. The door opened one last time to reveal Major Fokker, who did a double take at the sight of Pops sitting with the senior officers.

"Sorry I'm late," Major Fokker said. "I was on one of the last rescue details."

"That is quite alright, Major," the Captain replied. "The safety of the civilians is our most important task at the moment."

There was a round of silent assent at that comment from Gloval.

"Okay everyone," the Captain began, "I would first like to introduce to you the new Executive Officer of the Macross, Col. Frederick Hunter. He has consented to come out of retirement in this time of crisis."

"What would that geezer know about this ship and the Robotechnology on it?" groused Col. Maistroff.

"Geezer?" Pops flared, "I was only out of the service for a year before getting caught up in all this!"

A loud bang silenced the men. Capt. Gloval had slammed his hand on the conference table and risen to his full height. He would tower over everyone except maybe Major Fokker if they were all standing. There was no question of who held the authority here.

"Gentlemen! I will brook no disrespect at these meetings! Are we clear?" the Captain thundered, glancing back and forth between the two officers.

Gloval received a nod of affirmation from everyone at the table, although his comment was mostly directed at the thick.

"Now, I called this meeting to plan our next course of action, both for the next few days and for a longer time scale. You can argue about qualifications on your own time."

"How are we going to house all the civilians, Captain?" asked Dr Grant.

"I think I may have a solution," Dr. Lang said, his accent noticeable. "This ship has the tools and equipment to move extremely large cargo around, items even the previous crew would consider enormous. I believe we will be able to use it to salvage a fairly good sized portion of Macross City itself and bring it aboard the ship. With the extra mouths to feed we will have need of the extra resources."

"That addresses a question I was going to put forth today," Gloval said. "I was sure we would be easily able to secure and load all the rations stored in the survival shelters. I was not sure what else we would be able to salvage or how easily that salvage could be accomplished."

"Dr. Lang, are you saying this ship has the means to move entire structures around?" The question came from Pops.

"I believe so, Col. Hunter. If we can move all of their houses into the ship, we will not have to worry so much about quarters for them," the enigmatic scientist answered.

"I know the ship is big, but big enough to erect a city in?" asked Col. French.

"This ship is big enough to hold the entire population of a city the size of London, possibly even the entire population of Tokyo," Dr Lang stated.

"And housing the civilians will be easier if they have their own houses," Dr Grant said with a pleased tone.

"Then we shall begin recovery of as much of the city as possible in the next few days. I would like to be finished before a week is out. We do not know how soon our enemies will discover that we are still very much alive," said Gloval, "and that brings us to our long term dilemma."

"We need to get home!" Maistroff said. "How can that be a dilemma?"

"We just need to back track," Col. French said.

"Actually, following our original course back would be the worst thing we could do."

Everyone looked in surprise at Pops, unwilling to believe what he had suggested, everyone except Capt. Gloval.

"So you have seen the dilemma as well, Col. Hunter," Gloval said.

"Yes. I agree we need to get back to Earth as quickly as possible, but if there's any pursuit, it will be coming at us on the same course that got us out here. If we want to avoid and fool any enemy forces that have decided to pursue us, then we absolutely need to take a different route home."

Dr. Lang spoke up. "I think I have a suggestion, Captain, and can work on the calculations while the recovery operation is happening. We should plot a route that will allow us to use the large outer planets for a gravity assist to our speed and trajectory."

"A slingshot maneuver, like they would do with the old exploration probes like Voyager and Cassini," said Roy.

"Exactly," Dr. Lang said.

"Then we are agreed on our course of action," Gloval said. "We need to get this done quickly people. I don't want us caught here with our pants down; Dismissed!"

Out in the hall, Pops caught up with Roy, hoping to get a short chat.

"That was a bit of a shock," Roy said.

"I know I was the last person you expected to see in that room, but your Captain presented a very persuasive argument to me."

"So much for your retirement," Roy said. His voice had a rueful tone.

"I can re-retire when we get back to Earth; getting back home is more important than sitting on my butt sipping a beer."

"You realize this will make things harder to patch up between you and Rick, right?"

"I'm hoping he and I can still come to at least some sort of truce, but I'll be happy if he obeys my orders without arguing."

Roy looks at Pops sideways before starting to laugh. Pops soon joins in the laughter. They both know that arguing is like breathing for Rick.

* * *

In a bunker outside of the remains of London, Admiral Hayes is going over the intelligence from the latest skirmish against the invaders. After the Macross was destroyed, a decision was made among the surviving command and flag officers of the UN forces to conserve whatever mecha was possible and go to guerilla tactics against the invaders. There was no way to confront them directly, at least not until the Grand Cannon was completed. But they hadn't yet figured out a way to finish that project without the aliens discovering what they were doing.

_Damn you, Henry! Did you have to get your ship blown up so quickly? _Hayes thought.

"Excuse me admiral," his aide said, "we've received some interesting telemetry data from the area where we lost contact with the Macross. It hasn't been easy getting it here under the aliens' noses."

"What could possibly be so interesting in how our flagship got destroyed?"

"There's some evidence in the sensor readings that indicate the Macross may still exist, Sir." The aide hands Admiral Hayes a folder containing the sensor readouts.

Glancing through the various sheets of paper, the Admiral comes across the one item that must have given the analysts some hope.

"Sensor readings from Guam indicate the presence of fold energies before the disappearance of the Macross," the Admiral said, reading directly from the sheet.

"Yes, Sir, that is it."

"So Lisa and the rest of them could still be alive?"

"There is that possibility, Admiral," the aide said. "The only thing certain is that, if they are still alive, the Macross is nowhere near Earth."

"Let us hope they will return soon, Lieutenant. That ship is our only hope right now to repel these invaders."

"Very true, Admiral; however, if we've been able to tease that information out of the sensor readings, there is nothing stopping the aliens from doing the same."

"Then let's hope the Macross has had time to lick her wounds."

Admiral Hayes put down the folder and begins to think of a strategy that might keep the aliens' attention diverted long enough for the Macross to return home.

* * *

It had been a long day out on the rescue details with a lot of time performing intricate maneuvers in Battloid mode. Rick was exhausted and sat in front of his locker, trying to summon enough energy to strip out of his flight suit. He sits numbly, listening to the chatter from the other pilots.

"I heard some interesting scuttle-butt," Ben said. "The ship has a new XO."

"What happened to Col. Emerson?" asked Shin.

"My cousin's wife is CMO, and she said Emerson died on the operating table. She told me that when I had dinner with them the other day," LaSalle said. "He got pretty chopped up by shrapnel during the battle. Nothing Jean could do to save him."

"So, Ben, did you hear a name for this new XO?" asked Max.

"Supposedly his name is Hunter," said Ben.

"Hunter?" Rick says, in an apprehensive voice.

"Yeah, a guy Gloval dragged out of retirement, if you can believe that," Ben said. "Do you know the guy, Rick?"

A dour expression plays across Rick's face as he stiffens up on the bench, carefully weighing his possible answers. Finally he tells the guys what he knows.

"Our new XO is my father."

The anger Ben's news started gave Rick the energy to get moving. He didn't want to stick around the locker room anymore, so he quickly changed into a duty uniform and headed to the officer's club. A scotch was much more important than a shower now.

* * *

Claudia and Lisa were walking to the officer's club for a nightcap to take the edge of the day off. This had been a stressful duty shift as either woman could remember and they were both still too wound up to go directly to bed. Entering the special recreation area, they noticed someone at their regular table, someone with a shock of unruly black hair. They made their way to that table and as both women got closer, they could see it was Ensign Hunter. He had several empty shot glasses in front of him and looked to be in the throes of a dark and angry mood.

"Excuse me, Ensign Hunter," Claudia said. "What's making you ready to take on a bull rhino?"

"Pops," was Rick's one word answer.

"Pops? What the heck is that?" asked Lisa. She wasn't sure she heard Rick correctly; he was slurring his words a little.

"Not what. Who. It's my dad, and apparently he's now XO of the whole stinking ship."

"It must be exciting for that to happen to your father," Lisa said.

"Exciting? It's horrible! He'll be giving me orders every day! The whole point of leaving home and joining the service was so he wouldn't be able to boss me around anymore! Not that a know-it-all sourpuss like you would know what that felt like!"

Rick's hateful words struck Lisa like a slap in the face. Anger began to rise in her voice.

"Listen here, flyboy," Lisa said, "I'm probably the only person on this tub who knows exactly how you feel! My own father is an Admiral, you jerk!"

A flash of pain washes across Rick's expression; he didn't know that about Lisa's father. He vaguely thought he should apologize to Lisa, but at the moment he was in no condition to worry about that. All that he could think of right now was Lisa's cold, steely gaze. Her emerald eyes threatened to freeze him where he sat, pinning him to his seat. Being the most recent target of her temper, he could see how her reputation as "Ice Queen" seemed to be deserved. But he also couldn't help thinking that even when she was angry, Lt Hayes was actually kind of cute. Of course there was no telling if he would feel the same way about her after he had sobered up. And it was definitely time to think about sobering up. Rising from his seat, Rick said a quick goodbye to the two women and made his way out of the club, less angry than when he came in, but other emotions were now bubbling beneath his apparently calm exterior.

Lisa started to feel bad after Rick left the table. She could see in his eyes the pain her retort caused, those gorgeous blue eyes of his. She sighed and looked down at the table, wondering why Rick always seemed to bring out the worst in her. He was an okay guy to be around most of the time but he could be really annoying other times. And his cavalier attitude towards being in the military set her teeth on edge.

"What do you want to order?" Claudia asked.

"After dealing with that rude Ensign, I'm going to need something a little stronger than wine, probably a gin and tonic," Lisa said as she sat down. After she had gotten comfortable she asked, "Am I really a sourpuss?"

"Well, you didn't have to jump down Hunter's throat like that."

"I can't help it, Claudia. Ever since he's been stationed here on the Macross I've wanted to wipe that smirk off his face."

"It can't be a pilot thing though, because none of the other flyboys seem to bug you the way this Hunter does."

"Well, none of the other pilots have those sapphire blue eyes." Lisa's voice starts to take on a slight dreamy tone.

"Uh-huh," was all Claudia said, but she could see that maybe her friend was developing an attraction to the brash young pilot and couldn't help smiling at Lisa.

* * *

"Anything new, Admiral?"

Admiral Hayes looked up from his desk to see his aide standing before it. He had been so lost in thought he had not seen his aide return to this office.

"Not really, Lieutenant. Resistance cells around the planet are the way to go, but I haven't figured out how we keep in touch with each of them."

"Well, Sir, it may not be a good idea to keep any centralized global command structure. Each cell should have the autonomy to decide their targets. It's not like anybody will be able to swoop in and aid them."

"It will devolve to that eventually, but I'd still like any resistance cells to be started, equipped, and approved by us."

"It's already not happening that way, Admiral. The data from Guam was smuggled to us by a group calling itself 'The Southern Cross'. I don't know if that means it's a group of religious fanatics or not, Sir, but they aren't affiliated in any way with UEG forces."

"That's what I'm worried about the most, Lieutenant; the aliens destroying the Earth and leaving a few pockets of humanity to fight over the scraps. We have to prevent that at all costs."

_As if we could prevent the wind from blowing; _Thought the Admiral as he continued reading some files on a few resistance cells from North America.

* * *

Walking swiftly through the corridors in the officers' quarters, Major Fokker was looking high and low for Rick. He needed to get that stowaway kid back to his family and he really didn't want to do it without help from his little brother. Besides, it might give him a chance to tell Rick about Pops. Nearing Rick's quarters, Roy heard the man in question whistling softly ahead. Rounding a corner, Roy finally spies Rick, who was walking slowly, a dour expression on his face. Rick looks up and sees him, but is content to ignore Roy. Getting within arm's length of Rick, Roy catches the faint whiff of alcohol.

"Well, I guess you already heard about Pops," Roy said.

"Yup;"

"Well, I need your help with something, and you better not give me any grief about it. This is me asking for a personal favor; it's not an order."

"Fine, Roy, what did you want?"

"I need help bringing that kid back to his family."

"Kid?"

"The stowaway who hid in my Veritech. Did you forget already?"

"Yeah, kind of…"

"Well his cousin was working the Mayor's reception tent before everything went boom, so I found out from Claudia which shelter those people were in and where they're being checked over by the medical staff."

"Great, so where'd you leave the kid?"

"He was in the Skull ready room when we started the rescue flights. That's the last place I saw him, Rick."

"For your sake, let's hope he didn't wander off."

The two men slowly make their way to the Skull squadron hangar bay. The walk was doing Rick some good and he felt almost sober by the time they reached their destination. The ready room looked empty at first, which worried Roy, but the two men soon hear a faint snoring coming from a group of chairs near the back corner. Jason had fallen asleep waiting for Roy to come back and the maintenance staff had made sure the kid was all right. With a small smile on his face, Roy gently nudged the child awake.

"Rise and shine, buddy," Roy said into Jason's ear.

"Huh. Is it morning?" Jason asked softly.

"Almost, kid. We found out where your cousin is. We're going to take you to her."

"Really? She's still alive?" Jason asked, sounding more awake.

"Yup. C'mon, get up and follow us."

Rising from the chair, the young boy trails after the two pilots, tired, but glad to know he still had family to go home to.

* * *

Inside Cargo Bay 48-B, the survivors from shelter E-24 were being helped. Medical staff had given everyone a check-up, staff from the mess hall had brought food, and now other members of the ship's crew were bringing in cots for the night. Everyone was being told the same thing by whichever crew member they interacted with: This was only temporary and they would be finding permanent quarters for each family as soon as possible. After floating for almost a day in the shelter, the exhausted civilians were glad to have solid decking under their feet and the feeling of gravity holding them to that decking.

"I feel wiped out, Amanda, but I don't know if I'll be able to fall asleep," Minmei said. "I don't want to sleep until I've found out what happened to Jason."

"We have not been on board that long. There will be time to find him."

Before Minmei had a chance to reply, a crew member made a loud announcement.

"Is there a Lynn Minmei in this area?"

Minmei looked at Amanda before standing up.

"I'm Minmei."

"Could you come out into the hall please?"

Minmei nodded and began to make her way to the door to this cargo bay. Dark thoughts sped through her mind.

_Jason was dead. Jason was missing. Jason was badly injured._

A nervous pit slowly grew in her stomach until she could only walk with a slow gait. Moving through the doorway and past the crew member, Minmei saw only two pilots at first. Then a smaller figure pushed from between the two men. Minmei gasped when she saw it was Jason. And he was perfectly fine! Running up to the young boy, she folded him into her arms and gave him a tight bear hug. She held Jason for almost a minute before finally letting go. Then Minmei leaned over to Rick and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you! Thank you for keeping Jason safe!"

"You're welcome," said a very surprised Rick.

The show of affection was unexpected; he hadn't even been the one Jason had flown with. Looking into the bubbly co-ed's eyes, Rick thought he saw a glint of attraction. She certainly was pretty, and a much happier person than Lt. Hayes. A smile played across his lips as he thought.

_This could get interesting._


End file.
